On the cooling potential of cool roofs in cold climates: Use of cool fluorocarbon coatings to enhance the optical properties and the energy performance of industrial buildings

•Cool fluorocarbon coatings are applied in an industrial building.•The building is situated in Netherlands.•The coating's solar reflectance and infrared emmitance are measured.•The energy demand and consumption of the industrial building before and after coating's application is analysed.•A 73% decrease for cooling is estimated with a minor heating penalty of 5%.

Rejection of solar gains is the aim of passive cooling strategies in any type of building and any climatic region. The extent of cool materials’ applicability depends on the external climatic conditions and internal heat gains. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the contribution of an innovative cool fluorocarbon coating in the reduction of energy demand for cooling when applied in an industrial building with increased heat gains under temperate climatic conditions. The material is tested using accelerated weathering procedures and its optical properties, i.e. solar reflectance and infrared emmitance are measured. There is an increase of 120% of the roof's albedo by the application of cool material. Regarding the heating and cooling loads there was a decrease of 73% for cooling while there was a minor heating penalty of 5%.