Bandung, UPI – Lecturer of the Indonesian Education University (UPI) Architecture Study Program, Dr.Eng. Beta Paramita, ST, MT, together with the team successfully won the Million Cool Roofs Challenge competition organized by the Clean Cooling Collaborative on March 1, 2022. The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a competition worth 2 million USD which is participated by various countries from all over the world. As the winner, Dr. Eng. Beta has the right to take home a prize of 750,000 USD or more than 10 billion rupiah.
This achievement was achieved through collaboration with Dr. Ravi Shankar Srinivasan from the University of Florida and Millennium Solution, USA. With the project name, Cool Roofs Indonesia, Dr.Eng. Beta and the team are developing and producing the MS-Thermashield type paint. This paint was developed by Dr.Eng. Beta to create affordable cool roofs in Indonesia.
Cool Roofs Indonesia as a pilot project in the country has covered 70,800 square meters of roofs in 13 cities spread over 8 provinces. “These cool roofs have spread to Aceh, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, to NTT,” he said. The cities are Langsa, Bangka Belitung, Jakarta Tangerang, Bandung, Sukabumi, Garut, Subang, Tasikmalaya, Jepara, Pontianak, Kupang, and Manado.
By naked eye, cool roofs paint is no different from paints on the market. What’s more, this paint has just been produced in white. “This paint still uses basic colors because this paint is still on a laboratory scale and not yet on a large scale. So, to see with the naked eye, it’s a bit difficult to distinguish from ordinary paint, “said Dr. Eng Beta.
The paint produced by Cool Roofs Indonesia has been tested and certified by the CRRC (Cool Roofs Rating Council). This institution based in Portland, United States of America, is specifically authorized to certify cool roofs products. “So this CRRC gives what we produce that has met their requirements,” he added.
A roof is said to be a cool roof if it is able to reflect solar radiation of 0.8 or 80% directly. Meanwhile, Cool Roofs Indonesia has succeeded in producing paint with the ability to reflect solar radiation by 88%. This is proven by the impact that paint has on the roofs of houses in various cities in Indonesia. “The difference in temperature that we can get, in Tangerang we are 40 degrees, after painting it drops to 29 degrees in broad daylight,” he said.
Based on the research conducted, it is known that the temperature of urban areas in Indonesia is increasing. This phenomenon is called the Urban Heat Island. “When the sun goes down, the temperature should have dropped,” he said. However, because the sunlight during the day is not reflected properly, the sunlight settles on the house materials. “This has resulted in the emergence of Urban Heat Island in cities in Indonesia,” said the Cool Roofs Indonesia Project Manager.
For this reason, Dr. Eng Beta recommends this paint for use on the roofs of houses in Indonesia. It also considers Indonesia as a tropical country. Thus, cool roofs are projected to reduce the indoor temperature of houses in Indonesia. “In the cities that were tested, the indoor temperature was shown to decrease significantly,” he concluded.