Cool Roofs Indonesia is one of ten Boost Awardees for our Million Cool Roofs Challenge, working in Indonesia. Here, Beta Paramita, an Asst. Professor at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), in collaboration with Millennium Solution, USA to produce MS-Thermashield cool paint in Indonesia. The collaboration also involved Ravi Srinivasan, a Professor at The University of Florida to help building energy efficiency analysis and strategies. They tell us more about their approach to scaling up the deployment of sustainable and quality cool roofs, and their experience of the Challenge so far.
Tell us about the country and region/ city you are working in. What is the particular need for access to cool roofs there?
Indonesia, is a tropical country which spans the equator, meaning that the length of daytime and nighttime are very similar. In general, coastal cities and lowland area (10-20 meters above sea level) are have maximum daytime temperatures exceeding 30 ℃. Meanwhile the few cities in hilly areas (above 500 meters above sea level), such as Bandung and Malang have the maximum air temperatures between 25 – 28 ℃. Those conditions mean it is highly challenging to offer thermal comfort, whether indoor or outdoor. Without appropriate interventions, 80% of the heat from outside will transfer into the interior of buildings.
The use of fans or air conditioning (AC) is therefore widespread. National energy council (DEN, 2019) reveals 24% of household electricity consumption is for AC compared to 19% for lighting and 9% for cooking. Meanwhile, low-income people who cannot afford AC will suffer and face heat stress daily and low productivity or performance due to fatigue. Cool roofs are a critically important solution to lower energy savings and improve indoor thermal comfort.
What is your approach for reaching scale?
Our project approach centers institutional collaboration, between the university and the municipal government or the ministries. In particular, we are working with the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration of Republic of Indonesia to replicate this project in rural and underdeveloped areas. This approach includes research as well as services to the community.
Our projects gather data through the following techniques:
5. Industrial work productivity benefits through surveys and data logs.
For scaling up deployment, UPI has submitted the research grant (RISPRO LPDP) for scaling up products with local materials substituted. These substitutions can reduce 21% of the cost of raw materials, making the cool roofs more affordable and accessible to many rural and/or underdeveloped areas.
Cool Roofs Application and physiological test at Elementary School
What has been a focus area for you so far?
Our first area of focus is Tangerang City. This is because the mayor of Tangerang has made a strong commitment to realize the Tangerang Cool City. Within four months we finished 15,000 m2 of roof area including industrial buildings, elementary schools, mosques, government offices and low-cost housing.
We identified three barriers, as follows:
3. the costs and skillsets required for cool roofs installation.
Through our cool roofs team collaboration we managed to achieve the target and we are very satisfied with the results seen after painting. We take measurements before and after, and undertake user perception questionnaires after applying the cool roofs paint. At PT. Mayora Indah (an industrial building) without air conditioning, before the cool roof was installed, temperatures at 12 noon were 39.7°C and after using cool roofs we saw a drop to 29°C. That’s a difference of up to 10.7°C! (Paramita et al., 2020) What we are most excited to see is the enthusiasm from the low-income communities we work with to help our project, and that 100% of comments we’ve received are positive.
About the Challenge
The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a $2 million global competition to rapidly scale up the deployment of highly solar-reflective “cool” roofs in developing countries suffering heat stress and lacking widespread access to cooling services.
The Challenge awarded $100,000 grants to up to ten teams this year to deploy solar reflective coating and/or materials in an eligible country between August 2019 and December 2020. From there, $1 million will be awarded in 2021 to the team that has demonstrated the best sustainable and transferable model for rapid deployment of cool roofs in an eligible country and best meets the judging criteria. Materials should also meet minimum performance standards and be applied to roofs of buildings regularly occupied by people.
The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a project of the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP) in collaboration with the Global Cool Cities Alliance, Sustainable Energy for All and Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre.
Original Article: https://www.coolroofschallenge.org/news-and-blogs/2020/3/17/cool-roofs-indonesia-team-sees-temperatures-decrease-by-10oc-after-applying-solar-reflective-paint
