This document discusses materials for increasing resiliency to rising temperatures caused by climate change. It focuses on how surfaces can be designed to better reflect sunlight and radiate absorbed heat. Specifically, it explores "cool roofs" painted with reflective coatings, which can stay up to 10°C cooler than traditional roofs. Other topics covered include using thin window films to block solar radiation from heating indoor spaces in winter, as well as cool pavements and car paint that stay cooler under sunlight. Experiments are suggested using an Arduino to monitor heating and cooling curves of different materials exposed outdoors.

1. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
The 2°C - Challenge
Coping with Rising Temperatures: Materials for Resiliency
This project has received funding from the European Union's Erasmus + Programme for Education under
KA2 grant 2014-1-IT02-KA201-003604. The European Commission support for the production of these
didactical materials does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of
the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
All MoM materials, this document included, belong to MoM-Matters of Matter authors and are distributed under Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License as OER Open Educational Resources
.
Funded by EU under the Erasmus+ KA2 grant N° 2014-1-IT02-KA201-003604_1.

2. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Temperature Anomalies.mp4
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/super-heatwaves-55-c-emerge-if-global-warming-continues
It’s here! …how do we cope with it?

3. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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The basics: are you sure you know how to use it?
Conduction, convection, radiation
Thermal
equilibrium
Emissivity
Changing resistance
Emissivity!!!
radiation
convection
conduction
Ti Te
Ti >Te
T
H
E
R
M
O
M
E
T
E
R
S

4. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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Radiative heat
• Stopped by vacuum
• Each body emits IR according to its temperature (blackbody radiation)
• Emittance depends on colour, geometry, textureLESLIE CUBE

5. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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Reflection, Absorption, Emission & colours Sheets of paper working better
on open boxes as roof

6. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for ResiliencyLeslie’s Cube
What about
• Colour
• Texture
• Metals & low emissivity surfaces
What about
• Angle
• Distance
Filled with hot
water

7. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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Home made Leslie’s Cube
Inside VS outside painting…

8. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Cool Roofs

9. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Hurban Heat Island and Cool Roofs
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Urban_heat_island_(Celsius).png - Public Domain Licence Cool roof
Traditional roof
• Reflectance high low
• Emissivity high low

10. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Arduino & Cool Rooves
Take a number of differently coloured cardboard shhets
(possibly of the same kind: either all shiny or all opaque)
Expose them to the sun or under an halogen/IR lamp. Which
colours do you think will have the maximum reflectance?
Compare your hypothesis with experimental data. Test also
with a mirror, an aluminium sheet and a black cardboard sheet.
Colore Radiazione incidente-RI Radia
zione
rifless
a- RR
Riflettanza
RI/RR
Emittanza
E- IR
Does the reflectance of a specific surface change along the day? And what about seasons?
See also MoM_Monday_Arduino in the Physics_Lab
LDR

11. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Cool roofs, cool
pavements,…. cool cars!
cool
Coolpaints have a higher
reflectance in the IR therefore
their surface feel hotter outside
This is confirmed by the
thermal camera. However
inside the building is cooler
IR CONTACTLESS
Thermistor

12. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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With Arduino: heating and cooling curves over the day a) INDOOR and b)outdoor just next to the roof surface

13. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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• Eco efficient sustaineable houses
• Acts as a radiant barrier and blocks unwanted
heat gain in warm months (southern countries)
heat loss the cold winter months (northern countries)
Download Nanoceramix technical Manual at
http://www.nanoceramix.com/docs/NanoceramiX%20PicoceramiX%20Nanotermica
%20-%20Brochure%202015.pdf
Beautiful SEM images of the nanospheres +clearly
illustrated properties
Most insulators work by trapping air inside
but once air «saturates» heat is transferred to the adiacent walls
• In summer traditional insulation may be an issue-> heat is redirected only late at night
• BUT radiation IS NOT stopped by air!!!

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• Cool black paint is now tested
in Automotive - «Black is posh!»
-10°C
See activity “FCh2_Cool_Roofs”
• Temperatures recorded in August,
Texas USA.Outdoor Temp 32 °C
Materials exposed for 6 hours
There’s more than 10°C difference
between Nanoceramix (blue) and
common white paint (red).

15. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Indoor –afternoon -30°C
At hambient temperature
BEFORE exposition to the
sun
Aluminium sheets 1 mm thick with
one side painted (one is cool roof
paint!)
The thermal camera is shooting
perpendicular to the plate surface
from 50 cm approx.
Left sheet A, Right sheet B
Indoor IMMEDIATELY AFTER
the exposition to the sun.The
room was totally darkened
Outdoor –exposition to the
sun, first the plates on the
terrace tiles and then on
cardboard boxes
30,4°C
42,6 40,1
15:38 15:43- 5’
1 2
3
43,6

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Winter: test with two metal sheets
painted with normal white and
«cool» white. Use halogen lamps or
IR lamps
Summer: testing outside
BEST option for southern latitudes

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1 2 3
4
Testing different white paints

18. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Window
films
for
solar control

19. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
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The case
During the winter, our school suffers the strong influence of sunlight on the windows,
especially in the two wings of the building facing South.
In the morning there is a rise in temperature inside the classrooms which urges
students to open the windows causing a huge dispersion of the heat generated by
radiators and therefore a waste of energy that persists each year for about 5 / 6
months.
Students first thought of building a water bottles wall, then due to the excessive
weight opted for window thin film…
From water bottles wall to thin film
From heat storage to radiant barrier
PCM
In blue without thin film

20. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
With glass films
Window films for solar control
a
b
s
o
r
b
e
d
89%
6%
5%
Re-radiated
outward
Re-radiated
inward
Transmitted
Reflected
Common glass
a
b
s
o
r
b
e
d
22%
43%
35%
Re-radiated
outward
Re-radiated
inward
Transmitted
Reflected
25%
10%
32% Total solar energy
admitted inside
68% Total solar energy
rejected back
11% Total solar energy
rejected back
89% Total solar energy
admitted inside

21. www.mattersofmatter.eu The 2°C Challenge: Materials for Resiliency
Testing
solar
radiation
control
with
windows
thin films