Background of the Challenge
The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is an initiative of the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, the Global Cool Cities Alliance, Sustainable Energy for All, and Nesta Challenges. GreenA is proud to be shortlisted as one of the top ten finalists of the challenge. This challenge offers a seed grant of USD$100,000 that will be released out to us in stages to implement a co-ordinated approach to scale up cool roofs in Rwanda and to improve the cooling effect.
The hanger can generate 1,255 MWh of electricity each year – enough to power 273 four-room Housing Board flats. It produces 30% more energy than it requires and the excess energy is being used for other parts of the base.
The purpose of the project is to raise awareness programmes and communication campaigns, conduct project demonstrations and training programmes, gather data and environmental impact, run technical studies, and create new business models that benefit cool paint suppliers and consumers. These requirements were to be fulfilled under the umbrella purpose of creating employment and achieving 1 million sqm of cool roofs by December 2020.
Our Involvement in the Project
In this project, GreenA Consultants served as the Submission and Technical Partner. The following are the various stages and experiences of working on this challenge-
Stage 1: Searching for the Right Paint
Searching for the right paint was tough. When we started, there were no paints in Rwanda that met the requirements of the challenge. The paints had to be shipped from overseas and finding the one to match price with properties such as Thermal Emittance and Solar Reflective Index values, while having a good product spread rate, durability, quality and reliability was a huge challenge. We met with countless suppliers in Rwanda and Singapore, tele-conferenced with suppliers in Australia and the US and shot out emails to so many more globally.
Stage 2: Produce Local Paints in Rwanda while testing them in Singapore
To enable the local economy in Rwanda, we worked with a factory in Rwanda to produce cool painting products. After on-site testing, the paint was then sent to Singapore for laboratory tests to verify its cooling effect. Working with a local manufacturer in Rwanda, we managed to produce cool paint that would meets SRI of 0.71 and TE of 0.75. Prices were also kept competitive to the regional suppliers.
Stage 3: Getting the Commitment from Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment
This programme prioritizes schools, healthcare facilities, businesses, as well as government buildings in urban Kigali. This project includes a demo project for one school and hospital, with the support of Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment.
Stage 4: Empowering Local Women with Jobs
We devised a “Learn and Earn” Programme through training and providing for at least 50% women participation. To make learning educational and engaging, we created a Cool Roof Ambassador, SuperCool Boy to lead the fight against heat stress and promote accessible cooling strategies.
A “Cooling Rwanda Volunteer Programme” was also set up to recruit volunteers to be Cooling Rwanda Ambassadors, with the benefits of getting to attend Rwanda Green Building Organization’s certified training. Education and Awareness programmes as well as resource guides such as a “Cool Roof: How-to-Basics” was also created to scale up the initiative and raise awareness.
Overall, GreenA is proud to have participated in this challenge. We have not only created something new but have learnt a lot more on the way.
