Session A13
6229
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is
based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used
for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering
students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
THE USE OF RETROREFLECTIVE MATERIALS IN MODERN BUILDING
DESIGN
Malik Roberts, mdr57@pitt.edu, Sanchez 10:00am, Warren Adams, wka5@pitt.edu, Sanchez 10:00am
Revised Proposal — The topic of our conference paper will
be retroreflective building envelopes and their potential to
reduce energy costs, reduce the effects of urban heat islands,
and improve public health. Retroreflectors are materials
whose shape and/or surface cause it to reflect incoming light
back in the direction from which it came. The purpose of
applying this technology to modern building design is to
reflect light, and heat as a result, away from buildings, back
to its source. This function of retroreflective building
envelopes will help to lower energy costs in large structures
by improving the efficiency of heating and cooling and will
help to reduce the impact and formation of urban heat
islands in the atmosphere in and around cities.
Urban heat islands are pockets of heat that form in the
atmosphere in urban areas that are caused by light and heat
being reflected between buildings and getting trapped in the
environment as a result. This is a significant topic for
research in engineering because it will help to combat the
issue of climate change. According to the Environmental
Protection Agency, urban heat islands have been linked to
the cause of climate change, air pollution and the formation
of holes in the ozone layer and urban heat islands above
cities and urban environments. [1] With the onset of the
effects climate change, many cities are experiencing hotter
summers with frequent heat waves. “The National Resources
Defense Council estimates that extreme heat waves will kill
an additional 3300 people annually in the largest US cities
by the end of the century.” [2] These conditions are
hazardous to human health and put people at risk of
complications like heat stroke and asthma flares.
Retroreflective building envelopes will help to solve these
societal problems because they will reflect light and heat
back into the atmosphere, keeping heat from getting trapped
in urban environments. This mitigation of heat within urban
environments will reduce cooling costs in the summer
months, reduce ambient temperature for healthier and more
comfortable living and prevent heat build-up that is the
cause of the urban heat island effect.
There are five ways that we will research and evaluate
retroreflective building envelopes: briefly describe the
history and current uses of retroreflectors, current research
on retroreflective materials being used to reflect sunlight in
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
1/29/16
urban areas, benefits of the technology, and a cost analysis
of the retroreflective materials.
REFERENCES
[1] United States Environmental Protection Agency (2015)
“Climate Change and Heat Islands” Epa.gov. (Online
article). http://www2.epa.gov/heat-islands/climate-changeand-heat-islands
[2] K. Austen (2013) “Taking the Heat Out of Urban Living”
Elsevier: New Scientist. (Print article). 10.1016/S02624079(13)61012-X
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Rossi, B. Castellani, A. Presciutti, E. Morini, M.
Filipponi, A. Nicolini, M. Santamouris (2015)
“Retroreflective Facades for Urban Heat Island Mitigation:
Experimental Investigation and Energy Evaluations”
Elsevier:
Applied
Energy.
(Print
article).
10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.129
This is a very recent article from a professional, peerreviewed journal. This article describes the cooling potential
of retroreflective surfaces on buildings. It analyses an
experiment that was conducted in order to find out the
effectives of retroreflective surfaces in mitigating urban heat
islands. This article will be useful to us because it gives
quantifiable data on the usefulness and effectiveness of
retroreflective building envelopes.
H. Yilong, J.E. Taylor, A.L. Pisello (2015) “Toward
Mitigating Urban Heat Island Effects: Investigating the
Thermal-energy Impact of Bio-inspired Retro-reflective
Building Envelopes in Dense Urban Environments”
Elsevier: Energy and Buildings. (Print article).
10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.05.040
This article from a professional peer-reviewed journal
discusses the potential of retroreflective building envelopes
in mitigating urban heat islands. It analyzes a flower found
in nature that utilizes retroreflective surfaces to cool itself.
The design of this flower was imitated to create
retroreflective building envelopes that were found to be
Malik Roberts
Warren Adams
K. Austen (2013) “Taking the Heat Out of Urban Living”
Elsevier: New Scientist. (Print article). 10.1016/S02624079(13)61012-X
This is a print and online article from a peer-reviewed
scholarly journal. It discusses the problems with urban heat
islands and excessive heat in cities. It analyzes some of the
problems faced in urban environments with rising heat and
some of the possible solutions. It also gives some specific
examples of methods that have worked in the past. This
article is useful because it shows possible alternatives to
retroreflective building envelopes.
effective in cooling neighboring buildings. This article is
useful because it allows us to show examples of effective
building envelopes.
S. Hideki, E. Kazuo, I. Norio, I. Hiroyuki. (2009)
“Reduction of Reflected Heat of the Sun by Retroreflective
Materials”
Second
International
Conference
on
Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands. (Online article).
http://heatisland2009.lbl.gov/docs/211450-sakai-doc.pdf
This scholarly, peer-reviewed article analyzes the
effectiveness of different types of retroreflective surfaces in
combating urban heat islands. It provides data for different
materials used in retroreflective building envelopes and the
reduction in heat for each material. Information from this
article can help us because it shows in detail the advantages
and disadvantages of various materials used for
retroreflective building envelopes.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (2011)
“Urban Heat Islands” University Corporation for
Atmospheric
Research.
(Online
article).
http://scied.ucar.edu/longcontent/urban-heat-islands
This is an online article from a reputable .edu source. It
provides information on urban heat islands. It shows how
they form and where they are most likely to be. It also
discusses some of the possible ill effects of urban heat
islands, such as global warming and health issues. This is
useful to us because it gives us more background on urban
heat islands and why they might be important to stop.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2015)
“Climate Change and Heat Islands” Epa.gov. (Online
article). http://www2.epa.gov/heat-islands/climate-changeand-heat-islands
This is an online article released by the EPA. It describes
the problems that could be partially solved by the use of
retroreflective building envelopes, such as global warming
and urban heat islands. It also discusses health impacts and
the effects of global warming on energy costs. This article is
useful because it shows potential problems that could be
solved by retroreflective surfaces as well as showing some
of the ethics behind it.
Lovrin, Neven (01/01/2015). "THE INFLUENCE OF
ENGINEERING ETHICS ON ECOLOGY AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT". Acta Technica
Corvininesis, 8 (1), p. 109.
This is an academic peer-reviewed article from a journal
about ethics in engineering as they relate to the environment.
It discusses important issues in engineering and the duties
and responsibilities of engineers. It also gives examples of
previous ethical issues in engineering. Ethics are an
important part of engineering, and as such this article can
help us to understand the ethics or consequences of
retroreflective building envelopes.
“A Current, Significant Engineering Topic.” University of
Pittsburgh
ULS.
(2014).
(video).
http://www.library.pitt.edu/other/files/il/fresheng/index.html
This is an online video source provided by the University.
It contains information on choosing a topic for our research
paper. In the video, it is explained how to narrow down a
specific topic and what kind of topic should be chosen. This
source is helpful to use because it enables us to better chose
a topic and the requirements for a topic for the research
paper.
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