More and more radiation-type thermal insulation coatings are used on the residential buildings in the hot summer and cold winter zone and the thermal performance design methods are also receiving more attentions.The equivalent thermal resistance method is specified by the standard JGJ/T359 for considering the effect of the thermal reflective insulation coatings.However,some literature researches indicates that the energy efficiency used the thermal reflective insulation coatings on the non-transparent façades should be evaluated by the solar reflective as the insulation evaluation index rather than the equivalent thermal resistance.This paper is to discuss the energy efficiency of using radiation-type thermal insulation coatings on the outside of the exterior walls of residential buildings in hot summer and cold winter areas in Shanghai,and the relationship between the energy consumption of the air conditioner,heat transfer coefficient,solar radiation absorption coefficient,and surface emissivity of the wall is studied.The energy consumption results are calculated using the thermal parameters directly and that of using the equivalent thermal resistance method are also carried out.The results shown that:1)The insulation mechanism of the radiation-type thermal insulation coatings is significantly different from that of the reflective insulation coatings;2)The energy-saving effect of the radiation-type thermal insulation coatings is not suitable evaluated by using the equivalent thermal resistance method;3)The design of the winter insulation thermal resistance of the wall using the radiation-type thermal insulation coatings should fully consider its negative impact on wall's temperature in the winter nighttime.