Solar Reflectance of Dry- and Wet- States of Ceramic Bricks with High Water Retentivity
Abstract
Ceramic bricks or other materials with high water retentivity are recently attracting attention for roofing tiles, walls, or paving materials because they are expected to mitigate the urban heat island phenomena (Sugiyama et al., 2006). Development of materials with high water retentivity and its application are being studied. For example, asphalt containing polymers were studied mainly for roadways and ceramic materials were for sidewalks in some research projects in Japan. The materials retain water due to the rain and the water evaporates when the materials are heated in a fine hot weather. The latent heat of the evaporating water decreases the surface temperature and the surrounding temperature.