The Climatic and Energy Potential of Roofs in Australia/

Supported by the Department of Industry Science Energy and Resources (DISER), this project carried out by the High Performance Architecture research group of UNSW, with the aim to understand the applicability and cost-benefit of using cool roof technology on buildings in Australia and any barriers to adoption.

The specific objectives of the study focus on:

• The understanding and evaluation of the current implementation of cool roofs in the world.
• The climatic potential of cool roofs when implemented in the major Australian cities
• The energy conservation potential of cool roofs on the cooling energy demand of buildings
• The capacity of cool roofs to reduce the peak electricity demand in the major Australian cities
• The impact of cool roofs on the energy efficiency and performance of air conditioners
• The potential impact of cool roofs to improve the performance of roof integrated photovoltaics
• The financial potential of cool roofs in the Australian economy
• The potential of cool roofs to generate new employment in Australia
• The investigation of the existing barriers and the industry needs and perspectives, and
• Recommendations and Proposals on the changes needed to be made to promote the implementation of cool roofs in Australia

The study has investigated in detail all topics related to the above objectives. Twelve different specific research tasks have been carried out plus the analysis and the evaluation of the current implementation of cool roofs in the world. The final report is composed by 14 specific volumes describing in detail the methodology followed, the results and the main conclusions of the whole study.

Mattheos Santamouris is a Scientia, Distinguished, Professor of High Performance Architecture at UNSW, and a past Professor at the University of Athens, Greece. Mat is also a visiting Professor of the Cyprus Institute, Metropolitan University London, Tokyo Polytechnic University, Bolzano University, Brunnel University, Seoul University National University of Singapore, and UITM Univ Malaysia. Mat is a past president of the National Center of Renewable and Energy Savings of Greece. He is also the editor in chief of the Energy and Buildings Journal; the past editor in chief of the Advances Building Energy Research; an associate editor of the Solar Energy Journal; and a member of the editorial board of 14 journals. Mat is also the editor of a series of books on Buildings, published by Earthscan Science Publishers, the editor and author of 20 international books published by Elsevier, Earthscan, Springer, etc., and the author of 390 scientific articles published in journals. Mat has reviewed a wide range of research projects in 29 countries including USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, etc. He was ranked as the world’s top cited research in the field of Building and Construction by the Stanford University ranking system between 2019-2021. Mat was also a Highly Cited Researcher in the Clarivate ranking for 4 continuous years and ranked as the 538th researcher in the world in all scientific disciplines by Stanford University in 2021 from over 200,000 influential researchers.