Methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces and the use of concurrently obtained sensor data for secondary applications including insurance related applications

A method of modulating the impact of electromagnetic irradiance on a predominantly enclosed space of a building, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing at least an inner shell of said predominantly enclosed space of a building;
• (b) placing, in an exterior position relative to an outside facing surface of said inner shell, a plurality of functional elements configured to be spatially adjustable to change the amount of the outside facing surface which is exposed to a radiation source, wherein:
• (i) outside facing surfaces of said functional elements have higher reflectivity in the visible (VIS) wavelength range and near infrared (NIR) wavelength range relative to the mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range;
• (ii) inside facing surfaces of said functional elements have higher reflectivity in the NIR and MIR wavelength range relative to the VIS wavelength range;
• (iii) a thickness of said functional elements is equal to or smaller than a thickness of said inner shell;
• and
• (iv) the plurality of functional elements are mounted in the exterior position with a plurality of support elements small in size and or thermal conductivity compared to the size and or thermal conductivity of the functional element, to reduce thermal conductivity between the functional elements and the inner shell;
• (c) providing an electronic control system;
• (d) acquiring data using one or more sensors;
• (e) providing said data as one or more input signals to said control system;
• (f) determining with the control system and using said data, one or both the occurrence or imminently predicted occurrence of a catastrophic event internal or external to the predominantly enclosed space;
• and
• (g) initiating countermeasures to said building, in response to said determining, using the control system to reduce the severity of the catastrophic event.