CONVENTIONAL & GREEN ROOF ALBEDO MEASUREMENT AND
ANALYSIS FOR ROOF-MOUNTED PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS
Open Access
Author:
Perez-Blanco, Jonathan Michael
Area of Honors:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dr. Jeffrey Brownson & Dr. Matthew Mench, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Jeffrey Brownson, Thesis Supervisor Professor Matthew M Mench, Thesis Supervisor Eric Russell Marsh, Faculty Reader Professor Matthew M Mench, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Green roof green-roof albedo reflectivity plant albedo green roof albedo green-roof albedo photovoltaic photovoltaic green roof photovoltaic green-roof PV green roof PV green-roof roof albedo roof reflectivity green roof albedo green roof reflectivity solar green roof diffuse reflectance integrating sphere
Abstract:
In this work a low-cost integrating sphere is designed and constructed, for the purpose of
measuring the albedo of a variety of roofing materials. The albedos of roofing materials
including asphalt shingles, black polymer roofing material, green roof soils, and green
roof plants are measured. Reflectivity data is referenced to a commercial highreflectivity
white-roof sample, generating a reflectance ratio across the visible and
infrared spectra for each sample. Absorptance spectra are also generated from the
reflectivity data by using the Kubelka-Munk equation. A statistical error analysis is used
to determine a wavelength range for which data is acceptable to 95% certainty.
Reflectivity data is compared with performance data of copper indium gallium diselenide
(CIGS) photovoltaics, to evaluate the appropriateness of various roofing materials for
application with roof-mounted cylindrical photovoltaics.
