This Simple Tech Beats Heat Pumps
Of course it's an acronym, because everything is an acronym in building science. PDRC stands for passive daytime radiative cooling. 🏡
It's an easy-to-implement solution that could save millions of tons of CO2 and hundreds of thousands of lives. Even better: the primary inputs are cheap, and the manufacturing process is simple. For those of you with dollar signs for eyeballs, it could also prevent the loss of trillions of labor hours. 👷♂️
Third derivative explains the importance of this technology thusly: "With every possibility that the summer of 2024—and each summer beyond that—will be worse, we need to make real progress on cooling technologies and solutions now.
Without concerted action, 8.3 billion people globally — 74 percent of the projected global population — would be exposed to deadly heat conditions [...] by the end of the century, up from 30 percent today." 🥵
The solution is pretty simple, even though it's more robust than a basic cool roof. It relies on radiative heat transfer, and its effect is powerful. 🥶 PDRC a stark reminder about the importance of basic building science before complicated technical (read: electrified) solutions.
Read on to learn how it can reduce roof temps as much as 54°C-90°F.