Energy saving potential of passive radiative cool coating in high-rise data center with neighboring infrastructure

Abstract

To coordinate with the evolution of I&T, it is indicated to enhance the number of data center (DC) worldwide, which involves enormous cooling demand that may lead to energy wastage if the facility is not constructed energy-efficiently, impeding decarbonization. Passive radiative cooler (PRC) have exhibited their energy-saving capability in many studies. Being a windowless building, DC has extensive coverage area for PRC comparing to other buildings that require outdoor visual access. The power-saving potential of a dual-layer daytime radiative cooling paint (DDRCC) in a high-rise DC was investigated at multi-building scale using a self-created site model under Hong Kong's humid subtropical climate. Besides the roof, which has been the target PRC-employed surface in previous studies, this work deployed DDRCC on roof and vertical façade of the DC, attaining optimal saving of 652–821 kW and cooling power of 23.4–29.5 W/m2, demonstrating its practicability in high-rise building. DDRCC accomplished cooling power of 2.5–48.0 W/m2 in scenarios with various configuration of PRC-utilized envelope. Additionally, for the site studied, the cooling power of DDRCC enhanced with aspect ratio when the height of adjacent buildings was comparable to the DC. DDRCC was competent to achieve power-saving with walls of different thermal resistances.