Energy saving opportunities in buildings using cool roofs for India: A review

Abstract

India is a tropical country with vast climatic zones varying from region to region, and from a fast few years, the rate of urbanization also increased. The requirement of thermal comfort in buildings is one of the primary needs in residential buildings in the present scenario. The roof is one of the most critical parts of the building envelopes, and maximum heat gain entered through it. This paper presents the systematic review of cool roofs and its energy-saving opportunities in Indian residential buildings for different climatic zones, identifying the present scenario of cool roof technology in India. The majority of the research work performed in India's composite climate, so more research work based on the cool roofs strategies need to be performed in other climates. The energy-saving achieved using cool roofs vary from 8.4 to 30.4%, and indoor temperature varied from 2.0 to 7.0°C for different climatic zones of India.