Many studies have shown that paint with reflective heat can effectively reduce the temperature of the building envelope and reduce the future energy consumption of the building. This study inspired the next-generation inorganic geopolymer material (IGM) color paint without volatile matter, which could be applied on concrete surfaces to reduce energy consumption in warm seasons. In this study, a total of five insulating IGM paints, white, red, green, blue, and yellow, were applied to a 50 cm × 50 cm × 12 cm concrete slab top surface. The highest average light reflectance of all the paints was 87.5% of white IGM paint, which was higher than plain concrete (36.4%). The heat flux and surface temperature were examined in the laboratory, and those test results were verified outdoor. The results showed that the IGM paints could effectively reduce the surface temperature and heat flux of the upper and lower surfaces of concrete slabs, and the white colored IGM paint was the best performer among all five colors, whereas the heat storage coefficient ($S_f$) of red, white, yellow, blue, and green IGM painted concrete slabs were 0.57, 0.53, 3.62, 2.95, and 1.91 W·m⁻²·K⁻¹, respectively, lower than plain concrete (24.40 W·m⁻²·K⁻¹). This coefficient was presented to externalize the thermal admittance. The overall measurement results showed that the concrete slab with colored IGM paints had better heat insulation ability than the plain concrete slab, especially in white IGM paint.

Existing studies on the urban heat island (UHI) effect tend to focus on the planar scale. However, the UHI effect has obvious three-dimensional properties, so research into the dispersion of heat islands should at least include the urban canopy and boundary layer. This study thus employed data from a radiosonde to investigate the differences in these layers in different seasons and weather scenarios. This studies combined big data from sounding balloon and surface measurements in the Database for Atmospheric and Hydrologic Research, Taiwan. Data organization and classification were conducted using the Python programming language, the NumPy mathematical function library, and the Pandas data manipulation library to examine the fluctuations of UHI boundary layer and canopy as well as the relationship between UHI and meteorological factors. Results confirmed the existence of the atmospheric boundary layer and the canopy. Furthermore, the temperature inversion of the atmospheric boundary layer fell between heights of 130 m and 667 m. The height of the inversion is affected by the wind speed and cloudiness, that is, the amount of radiation. Thereby demonstrating that the inversion fluctuates with weather scenario changes. In addition, the inversion was thicker in the winter. Based on single-point vertical pattern analyses in Banqiao in the Taipei Metropolitan Area, we infer that the UHI boundary layer in the Taipei Metropolitan basin is more like a blanket of uneven thickness rather than the semi-circular dome shown in most UHI diagrams.

The primary source of heat in building envelopes in subtropical regions is solar radiation. As global warming worsens, the building insulation is receiving an increasing amount of attention.We developed a coating material with radiative cooling potential and conducted an experiment on a reduced scale to investigate the radiative-cooling performance of bare concrete and concrete coated with UU500, an inorganic insulation coating, under artificial daylight and after the daylight lamps were turned off. The results indicate that UU500 has radiative-cooling effects. We calculated the thermal transmittance coefficient Ui of the coating and presented a radiative cooling coefficient Ex to modify the U-value formula defined in ISO 9869-1: 2014. Coatings with higher Ex values should be promoted and developed to provide the materials industry with a better theoretical foundation for coating development, which enlightened a new approach for building energy saving strategy.