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Since I made my original post I've studied this more and also contacted several people who install radiant barrier about the application I am planning to use and they have told me that as long as you have an air space on one side of the foil you'll receive the benefits. Since making the post I have also talked to people that have actually used the barrier and most have told me it lowered their attic temperatures by 20-30* during the summer and lowered their cooling costs by about 20%+. I was also concerned about whether the radiant barrier would help in the winter with heating with it being installed under the metal roof to the exterior of the house and the answer to this has also been yes because even though it's on the exterior it will still block the heat from radiating to the exterior and cold from radiating to the interior. This in itself should be very beneficial since they claim that up to 60% of heat loss is though the roof.
After talking to several people about this I have decided to go ahead with it. I can do the roof, interior of my garage, and the interior walls of all closets in the house that are exposed to an outside wall for under $400. in material (3000 sf).
I used a radiant barrier on the inside stud walls and bottom of the trusses in my garage at the house where I use to live and didn't use any other insulation. The garage was exposed to the sun from sun up till sun down with no shade during any part of the day and even on 95-100* days without the use of a/c it was cooler feeling in the garage than it was outdoors. I never checked the interior temperature prior to or after the installation, but I would guess there was at least a 20* drop after installing the barrier.
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