Energy saving and renewable energy utilization in buildings are key to achieving carbon neutrality in China. Radiative sky cooling

as a passive cooling technology that requires no external energy input nor refrigerants

has a significant impact on increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in buildings. To this end

in this study

the carbon emission reduction that can be achieved if passive radiative cooling technology is applied to existing buildings in China

especially in the operational phase

was explored. The current total building area and the stock area by building type in different provinces were obtained from the Statistical Yearbook. Nine building types were modeled according to energy efficiency standards

and weather data from typical meteorological years were selected for each province. With these inputs

the baseline carbon emissions during the operational phase of each building type in each province

as well as the amount and rate of carbon emission reduction after the large-scale application of radiative sky cooling

were obtained via simulations using the building energy consumption software EnergyPlus. Regarding the building type

residential and industrial buildings were found to have higher carbon reduction rates. The spatial distribution of the carbon reduction rate in China was also analyzed. The average carbon emission reduction rate in severely cold regions was 4.92%

whereas the rates were 8.11%

10.71%

10.92%

and 16.77% in cold regions

hot summer cold winter regions

hot summer warm winter regions

and mild regions

respectively. The total annual carbon reduction was calculated to be 230 million tons of CO2

accounting for 10.90% of the building operation carbon emissions and 2.39% of the total energy carbon emissions. Thus

radiative sky cooling can be a significant contributor to achieving “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality” goals in China.