Solar Reflective: Demonstrated Savings

In 2007, Cocoon Coatings was installing Solar Reflective Coatings on a number of school buildings across Victoria. Most of the work was being completed on portable buildings (MOD-5 Design) that contain a classroom and ancillary room. Most of these buildings are fitted out with air conditioning to provide a comfortable learning environment during the summer months.

Around this time, McKinnon Secondary College in the southern suburbs of Melbourne received funding for new portable buildings, and Cocoon was there to coat one with a solar reflective coating. A forward-thinking Facility Manager took the iniative to create a monitoring program on two of the new buildings: one control and one with Cocoon's Solar Reflective Coating. The two buildings are located adjacent to each other on the property, and receive the exact same solar exposure.

McKinnon Secondary College Portable coated with Cocoon Coatings Solar Reflective
The portable buildings at McKinnon College: the coated building is apparent from Google's Satellite Images
Electricity meters are normally installed solely for the purpose of tracking the electircal consumption of one user on a property, and will not show the individual consumption of each building. In McKinnon College's case, the Facility Manager installed individual meters on both of the 'test case' portable buildings. The meters kept track of the overall electrical consumption of the two buildings from the time of installation.

A year later, Cocoon Coatings received a testimonial from the Facility Manager, reporting on the success of the testing. The Solar Reflective Coated building had shown consistent energy savings over the 12-month period. Barry and Wayne were thrilled with the results, and shared the story with prospective clients.

Fast forward to November of 2013, and we were interested to see what was going on with the demonstration buildings. We had heard that the Facility Manager that had installed the meters had moved on from McKinnon a year or two ago, so we got in touch with the College to find out what has happened there since.

The new Facility Manager hadn't been informed of the past project, and wasn't aware of the electricity meters that had been ticking away for six years. The experiment had been forgotten! Wayne and Barry asked to visit the site, talk about the Solar Reflective Coating, and see what had happened with the electricity meters.

Sure enough, the meters were still keeping track, and had recorded all six years of data. Here are the results:

Mckinnon Secondary College energy savings with Cocoon Coatings

For six years, the two buildings were used in the same way: similar class sizes, similar usage patterns, and they were exposed to the same temperatures and sun exposure. Cocoon's Solar Reflective Coating helped the one building to use 53 percent less electricity over the course of an average year. This was a result of the Solar Reflective Coating preventing heat energy from reaching the building interior, keeping the internal temperature at a lower point to begin with, and reducing this building's dependence on air conditioning to provide a comfortable learning environment.

Cocoon Coatings is excited about how we can save schools extra operating costs over the hot summer months. This is money that can be re-invested into needed facilities, resources, and other services that help our students to thrive!

If your local school is looking for ways to "Beat the Heat" and provide better a learning environment for students, give us a call today. We'll be happy to visit your board and discuss our products and services.

Find out more about Cocoon's Solar Reflective Coating.

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