Night sky radiant cooling potentials in New Mexico

A 2006 state-funded report by Mark Chalom Architect (with Bristol Stickney and Kate Snider) for Governor Richardson’s Water Innovation Fund. The report quantifies the potential of night sky radiant cooling (NSRC) to replace evaporative coolers and air conditioners across New Mexico’s 11 climate zones.

Core findings

NSRC can cool an efficiently designed 1,800 sq ft home in every NM climate zone, including the hottest (Carlsbad).
The study tested 10 different radiator panels over two summers in Tesuque, NM, measuring actual BTU output at 5-minute intervals.
Average cooling “U” value across all tested radiators: 1.66.
Power savings range from 25% in Albuquerque to 89% in Carlsbad compared to conventional cooling.
Water savings are substantial: evaporative coolers consume water directly; NSRC uses a closed water loop.

System design assumed

The baseline system uses:

A radiant-heated concrete slab floor (already common in NM construction)
Unglazed swimming pool collectors on a flat roof, repurposed as night-sky radiators
A closed water loop between the slab and the roof panels

This is the same architecture described in the archive’s pool-heater cooling and radiant cooling design brief pages — the report provides independent field data supporting Baer’s claims.

Connection to the archive

The report explicitly cites Steve Baer and Zomeworks:

“Steve Baer of Zomeworks, inspired by Harold Hay’s Skytherm Designs, has been [developing] technologies as the Cool Cell as well as the Double Play Solar Heating and Cooling System.”

It includes thermal performance data for Baer’s Double Play system and references the 2002 Albuquerque conference where Baer discussed heating and cooling with unglazed radiator/absorbers. The NSRC presentation (.ppt) and worksheet (.xls) are companion files — the presentation summarizes the findings and the worksheet is a calculator for projecting savings by climate zone.

Radiator test results

The study tested panels of various materials (aluminum, copper, plastic) and configurations. Key variables:

Tilt correction factor — flat panels radiate best; tilted panels lose sky view
Wind correction factor — wind increases convective losses, reducing net radiative cooling
Correlation between radiator output and weather data allowed projecting performance across all 11 NM climate zones

Why it matters

This is the only source in the archive that provides government-funded, independently measured field data for the night-sky radiative cooling principle. It validates the claims made in the archive’s concept pages with two summers of actual radiator testing and statewide projections. It also demonstrates that the pool-heater-as-radiator idea works at scale — not just as a Zomeworks experiment, but as a state-level energy strategy.