NEW research has been launched by the City of Melbourne and The University of Melbourne that aims to provide building owners across Melbourne access to information that can help their buildings absorb less heat and stay cooler during hot days.

In 2011, the City of Melbourne commissioned The University of Melbourne to research how different cool roof products perform in Melbourne's climate and to identify buildings where the installation of a cool roof would be beneficial.

The research, released on Tuesday, also assessed the benefits of white roofs and aims to help residential, commercial and industrial building owners determine if white roofs are suitable for their buildings and guide them through the best materials to use.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said Council had already put the research into practice by trialling a white roof on its ArtPlay building.

"There has been a lot of talk about the energy consumption benefits of white roofs and we commissioned the University of Melbourne to undertake this research so we could get a local perspective on how white roofs can work in our city," the Lord Mayor said.

Councillor Cathy Oke, Chair of the Future Melbourne (Eco-City) Committee said commercial buildings in the City of Melbourne would benefit most from this tool, adding that white roofs can cool commercial buildings by 3 per cent on hot days and help reduce the urban heat island effect.

Dominique Hes, senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne in sustainable architecture and lead author of the research, explained that when painted white, roofs are able to reflect heat away from the building rather than absorbing it.

With Melbourne's CBD containing over 3.5 million square metres of lettable commercial space, Dr Hes said that if the roofs of these buildings were painted white, they could theoretically reduce the city's CO2 emissions by 4.5 million MJ per year, 1.5 million kilos of CO2 or 3 million black balloons.

"White roofs are a low cost solution in making buildings more sustainable, particularly for our older buildings. And if our air conditioners are not working as hard, there are financial benefits for buildings owners as well," Dr Hes said.

According to the Council, the research monitored the temperatures of five test buildings at The University of Melbourne's Burnley Campus for their performance with and without white coatings. The buildings with white roofs experienced significantly cooler temperatures, both on the exterior and interior.

More information is available from the City of Melbourne's 'What is a cool roof' website at <http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ENVIRONMENT/WHATCOUNCILISDOING/Pages/Coolroofs.aspx>.