Potential maps for combined nocturnal radiative cooling and diurnal solar heating applications in Europe

Radiative cooling is a process where a surface cools down by radiating thermal energy into the outer space. Radiative cooling and solar heating applications can be combined in one single device named Radiative Collector and Emitter (RCE) which can generate heat during the day and cold at night. The power generated by these devices varies depending on the location's weather conditions. In this paper we predict the power and energy production potential using Kriging interpolations and give detailed prediction maps of the solar heating and radiative cooling potential using data from weather stations in Europe. On average, and considering ideal conditions, the annual radiative cooling potential in Europe is 50.24 W/m2 and 212.21 kWh/m2·year, and the solar heating potential is 225.08 W/m2 and 1152.36 kWh/m2·year. We also combine both potentials to create suitability maps of RCE technology, which show the south of Europe as having the most potential for RCE implementation. Of these regions, southern Turkey and southern Spain have a score in the suitability index higher than 70% in all the defined criteria, while with a medium filtering criterion for radiative cooling production and solar heating, most of the continent is suitable for the application of RCE technology.