Comparative Evaluation of Cool Roofs and Photovoltaic Roofs in Sustainable Buildings Within the Scope of the 3-E Static Payback Period Framework

Building envelopes play a pivotal role in influencing building energy consumption. Among its components, the roof, as a critical element, directly absorbs solar radiation and serves as a primary medium for external heat exchange. Its thermal performance significantly impacts the overall energy consumption of buildings. This study focuses on cool roofs as the research subject to investigate their thermal performance and its effects on building energy consumption. Drawing on the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA), a novel concept of environmental payback period is introduced. By comparing cool roofs with photovoltaic roofs, this research employs energy consumption simulation and life cycle assessment to evaluate their performance across three dimensions: economic, energy, and environmental impacts. A comprehensive 3-E (Economic, Energy, Environmental) static payback period theoretical framework based on LCA is established. Within this framework, the concepts of economic static payback period, energy static payback period, and environmental static payback period are explicitly defined, and corresponding calculation formulas are provided. A case study in Nanjing is conducted to validate the proposed framework. The results indicate that the economic payback periods for cool roofs and photovoltaic roofs are 1.75 years and 10.90 years, respectively; the energy payback periods are 13.6 years and 43.7 years, respectively; and the environmental payback periods are 2.2 years and 7.6 years, respectively. In terms of energy savings, photovoltaic roofs outperform cool roofs significantly, with an annual energy saving of 139 kWh/m2 for photovoltaic roofs compared to 6.5 kWh/m2 for cool roofs. However, cool roofs demonstrate clear advantages in the comparison of payback periods.