Melbourne Airport and ‘SkyCool’

Melbourne Airport serves Australia’s second-largest city and handles over 22 million passengers and 180,000 aircraft movements annually.

Did you know?

• Tests by the University of Sydney and results from trials in the field suggest that SkyCool paint applied to supermarket roofs results in a much cooler building, requiring 40 to 50% less air conditioning than a roof painted with normal paint.

What are we doing?

• Melbourne Airport has applied more than 35,000 square metres of an Australian-developed paint called ‘SkyCool’ to terminal roofs. This paint is specifically designed to reduce ‘heat gain’ within the building, resulting in less use of air conditioners throughout the terminal. The unique attribute of SkyCool paint is its ability to act as a black body radiator of infared energy (heat).
• Installing nearly 500 energy-efficient light bulbs.
• Installing darker tinting on the vast expanses of terminal windows to reduce the heat entering the building.
• Inserting special foam balls into the air conditioning supply system – these help to keep the internal pipes clean, reduce maintenance and aid in the efficient operation of the overall system.

• Over an 18-month period the SkyCool paint has helped to save more than 40,000 tonnes of CO2 through a reduction in air conditioning use.
• Previously during the summer period, the terminal building required four chillers operating at around 100 percent capacity. Now, three chillers running at around 80 percent capacity fulfil the terminal’s needs. 
• As a result of these measures, Melbourne Airport has been able to make significant reductions to the amount of air conditioning used, whilst still ensuring the terminals remain cool.