Sorry it\'s crap. Nice call again to make people believe that solar panels will solve the issues with the environment.
BUT who investigated the NET HEAT INCREASE of having a solar panel on your roof?
Lets put it in another way. I have a white roof which reflects 30% of the heating rays of the sun... I install a solar panel to convert 20% of the suns rays to electricity to power my fridge... which actually just generates heat and it\'s even a 99% effeicient fridge! Oh wait now my solar panel absorbs 80% of the suns rays to convert some to electricity and the remaining 60% just creates heat... But hey I don\'t care, my house keeps cool because it\'s shaded by the solar panel.
Please editors start to criticize in a meaningfull manner what we are doing! We are heating up the planet to get \'some\' electricity!!!!

Here in Canada, flat roofs would mostly be covered with snow in the winter, reflecting that solar light anyways, that supposedly would heat the building according to this article. Capturing the energy via a tilted solar panel, the sun\'s energy could be used to heat the bldg, instead of being reflected back into the environment. So they would be a cooling plus in the summer, blocking the light from absorbing into the roof (and the energy could be used to run air conditioners), and a heating plus in the winter (energy used to run heaters), capturing normally unused solar rays.

Phillippe - If your fridge is 99% efficient, think about what it\'s job is: it doesn\'t create heat with the remaining energy use, it _transfers_ it (takes it from inside the fridge, and puts it outside).
While it\'s not completely as peachy as you would want it, I think a basic conservation-of-energy map will help you see it\'s not nearly as dire as you paint it either.
Anyway, the extreme alternative is to forgo health, food, shelter, live in the open, and allow our evolution to let those of us who can survive... except that evolution has favored our thinking and manipulation (e.g. tool building) capacity, so here - naturally - we are.

This is a great preliminary study, but it leaves me with a lot of questions, especially on the exact conditions of the experiment.
So, how much does just putting a plate of glass reduce the temperature?

All that was really proven is that building needs more insulation.

Slowburn got this one. More insulation equals reduced energy needs. The question is how long is the ROI, and is it worth it to a society that thinks houses are a short term investment.

Gee Whizzzz, Like this was not an obvious conclusion. What a waste of university education time. Its like when they reported that when large wind generators were installed it got warmer down wind. No Kidding ! Simple logical math. When you take into account the wind generator removing 15% of the \"power\" out of the air, your bound to have less air movement after the generator, hence less cooling of the land behind it (hot of course due to solar gain) Of course the opposite in the winter....

Yes, yes, it\'s an \'obvious\' study. But even \'obvious\' studies need to be done. You can\'t just assume things. Perhaps this paper triggers a more thorough evaluation on the insulative properties of solar panels as compared to other materials.
And to Philippe Heeren, yes the energy collected is used inside the home to mostly generate heat, but at least this is transferring heat energy from the sun into heat energy from your plasma/lcd. Without the solar panels, the heat energy from the sun enters the home, then you turn on your air-conditioner which is powered by a big plant somewhere converting coal into electricity and pollution. The solar panels minimize this excess pollution. You should apply some critical thinking to your own comments.

The solar panels would need to be spaced away from the roof for it to work and also cover the whole roof while allowing a massive air flow. Heat does transfer through panels after some time... Maybe Philippe should proof read a little \"Oh wait now my solar panel absorbs 80% of the suns rays to convert some to electricity and the remaining 60% just creates heat.\".....Huh?

Authors conclusion seems to be a little premature. In fact, the malls or for that matter air conditioned shopping centres are a cause of worry as they influence global warmiing. The ideal way to achieve cooling either to residential or commercial building is through plants around. That is how a city in India used to be recognized as \'Naturally air conditioned\' city. One cannot compete with nature - vegetation, I mean.