Patent ID: 8635817

Claim:
A reflective roof system, comprising: a plurality of roof structures, each of the plurality of roof structures comprising: an outer surface, wherein the outer surface is precipitation resistant, and wherein the outer surface is configured to pass light therethrough; a hollow inner compartment positioned adjacent to the outer surface, wherein the hollow inner compartment stores a fluid; and a plurality of light scattering structures encompassed within the hollow inner compartment and having a reflective index, wherein the plurality of light scattering structures are surrounded by the fluid stored within the hollow inner compartment and are configured to scatter light or pass light therethrough based upon the fluid stored within the hollow inner compartment, wherein the plurality of light scattering structures are configured to scatter light when the fluid has a disparate reflective index as compared with the plurality of light scattering structures, and wherein the plurality of light scattering structures are configured to pass light therethrough when the fluid has a similar reflective index as compared with the plurality of light scattering structures; a first reservoir configured to store a first fluid having a reflective index similar to the reflective index of the plurality of light scattering structures; a pump coupled in fluid communication with the hollow inner compartment of each of the plurality of roof structures and the first reservoir, wherein the pump is configured to: exchange the first fluid in the hollow inner compartment with a second fluid having a reflective index disparate to the reflective index of the plurality of light scattering structures; and exchange the second fluid in the hollow inner compartment with the first fluid; and one or more environmental sensors configured to sense one or more environmental conditions; and a control unit operatively associated with the one or more environmental sensors and configured to control the pump to exchange the first fluid or exchange the second fluid based on the sensed one or more environmental conditions.