NEW RESEARCH: The ‘time machine’ that replicates 3 years of weather in 3 days

Climate change is wreaking havoc on the environment. While the main culprit is carbon emissions, urban heat islands — exacerbated by dark roofs and pavements — make the effect of global warming even worse for urban dwellers.

One solution to the problem is cool roofs: surfaces made of light, reflective materials. By keeping buildings cool, these roofs lower energy use, while at the same time reflecting sunlight away from buildings and cities.

But like anything exposed to the elements, cool roofs age and become dirty over time. This natural wear and tear causes them to lose some of their reflective abilities. The question is, how much are they affected? And can this loss of performance be slowed?

An engineering team at Concordia has collaborated with researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California to simulate the weathering of cool roofs in the lab. In just a few days, they can now reproduce three years of aging on roofing products in order to test their solar reflectance. Read more…