Scientists in Hong Kong have demonstrated a new ultra-white ceramic material that can drastically cool buildings by reflecting sunlight and heat at record highs. The beetle-inspired material gets its ability from its nanostructure, stays tough to the elements and should be relatively easy to scale…
Ultra-white ceramic cools buildings with record-high 99.6% reflectivity::undefined
I can guarantee that a Rooftop Terrace garden cuts down almost 40% to 60% heat ever reaching the ceiling. If you have enough cover with smaller plants under larger bushes/shrubs/small trees then there will be a cool breeze around the terrace, provide nesting places for small birds and animals, a pocket of nature in an otherwise concrete heat jungle.
The problem is who can afford to maintain the Terrace garden is the bigger challenge. Constantly checking soil, composting, watering, maintenance and just time+expense is usually beyond a lot of folks.
Trees? Not many. Grasses, herbs, wildflowers, and shrubs? Tons of them.
And you can pretty easily retrofit over an existing sloped roof.
And the weight is no more than a tiled roof.
You know what also cools houses down super efficiently?
Trees
Excellent - how many trees can I grow on my roof? Can they be retrofitted?
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I can guarantee that a Rooftop Terrace garden cuts down almost 40% to 60% heat ever reaching the ceiling. If you have enough cover with smaller plants under larger bushes/shrubs/small trees then there will be a cool breeze around the terrace, provide nesting places for small birds and animals, a pocket of nature in an otherwise concrete heat jungle.
The problem is who can afford to maintain the Terrace garden is the bigger challenge. Constantly checking soil, composting, watering, maintenance and just time+expense is usually beyond a lot of folks.
Green roof, looks cool, usable space, and helps with cooling. Just damned expensive.
Trees? Not many. Grasses, herbs, wildflowers, and shrubs? Tons of them. And you can pretty easily retrofit over an existing sloped roof. And the weight is no more than a tiled roof.
You know what cools roofs and generates electricity? Magic!
Another trick: bifacial panels oriented to pick up the reflected light from highly reflective roofs
What about Ultra white ceramic trees?
They also dampen noise
but trees look gross