High Performance Roofing Makes This the Coolest Earth Day Ever

To celebrate Earth Day in 2010 discussions throughout the roofing industry were centered on the feasibility of white roofs. Simply painting a roof white, or other light color, to reflect more heat could save building owners thousands of dollars in cooling costs. This Earth Day this discussion has transformed into a comprehensive roofing system aimed at not only reducing costs but also improving the environment.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down later this year, is well-known for his "cool roofs" initiative. In 2010, he released a poignant memo which noted "cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions…" This simple statement has spurred a revolution in high performance roofing.

Today's cool roofs are more than reflective, light colored paint. They are comprehensive systems designed for maximum durability, reflectively, and emissivity. They maximize the effectiveness of the insulation a building already has and reduces the workload of HVAC system to save building owners money and reduce greenhouse gases. This is critically important because, according to the US Department of Energy, buildings account for 40% of US energy consumption and up to 35% of the nation's greenhouse emissions.

A recent article published by Dan Rosendahl of Ultimate Roofing Systems noted, "Today's cool roofing systems overcome the traditional drawbacks of white roofs – namely efficiency degradation due to paint chipping, cracking, and peeling away. Comprehensive cool roof systems are more durable than ever and offer significant cost savings over the lifespan of a roof."

Mr. Rosendahl went on to note that high performance roofs aren't designed to be the ultimate energy efficiency solution, but rather play an instrumental role in a holistic energy management approach. It reduces the workload of expensive HVAC systems which increases their useful lifespan and decreases maintenance costs.