The benefits and controversy of white roofing

Much has been made in recent years about the benefits of installing white or “cool” roofs like those from Conklin. The idea is that light-colored materials reflect heat, while dark roofs (such as those made of asphalt and tar) absorb heat and drive up air-conditioning consumption in order to offset it. In other words, installing a roof that is white or “reflective” helps save energy and money.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has pressed Americans to install cool roofs on their homes and business, even committing his own department to making all its new roofs white, but is the hype about cool roofs legitimate? Should you consider one for your home or commercial building?

The net energy savings generated by white roofs compared with dark roofs depends partly on where you’re located. White roofs seem like no-brainers in warm climates like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami, where they can keep air-conditioning bills in check year-round. States like California even now mandate white roofs on commercial buildings. But in cooler climates like Detroit or Toronto, the issue is less straightforward.

While white roofs may shave electric bills in hot summer months, some studies suggest they increase winter heating bills. The question is by just how much. Some scientists say white roofs can increase heating costs more than they save on A/C costs, although scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory dispute this - saying the electricity savings of air-conditioning has found to outweigh any negatives, even in cool cities like Minneapolis.

If you do decide to install a white roof on your business or home, make sure you do some research about costs and options in your area and get at least a few bids from different professional roofing contractors who specialize in cool roofing. There are several different types of reflective roofing materials, and there is a right way and a wrong way to install them.

Also look into incentives available to you. Some states offer rebates for installing white roofs, as do some electric utilities. You can look up incentives online at DSIRE.

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What’s Next for Cool Roofs?

What is this?

In July 2010, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu launched an initiative to install cool roofs on DOE and government buildings. Recognition of the benefits of cool roofs like those from Conklin and the development of emerging technologies promises to transform the future marketplace. Several laboratories, universities and companies are already conducting research on new cool roof products, from self-cleaning to thermally sensitive materials to solar panels that take advantage of cool roofs.

Although they may seem like conflicting technologies, cool roofs can be complimentary to solar photovoltaic panels. According to the DOE, a cool roof can keep the roof surface 50% cooler than a dark roof under the same conditions. Solar panels may perform more efficiently and for a longer lifespan under the cooler conditions provided by a cool roof. Panels by California solar photovoltaic manufacturers Solyndra have even been developed with curved surfaces to take advantage of light refracted off the cool roof.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Heat Island Group is conducting research on the effects of dirt and algae on the roof surface over time, and it is working to develop an accelerated aging process. This can significantly decrease the aged testing timeline, allowing roofing manufacturers to design and improve product formulas without waiting three years for the aged performance. The Heat Island Group is also working on a self-cleaning surface for roofing materials to reduce the effects of weathering on solar reflectance values. The scientists at United Environment and Energy LLC are developing a coating that can recognize temperature changes to either reflect or absorb solar energy depending on what would be more advantageous for the building. The coating is created using waste cooking oil from restaurants and can be adapted to different climates with preset temperature thresholds. A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has focused on a similar concept, designing a roof tile that changes colors according to temperature. The tiles are made of common polymers encapsulated by a clear plastic top layer and black back layer. These are just a few examples of new technologies that are pushing roofing materials to have the ability to maintain high-performance after weathering while decreasing both cooling and heating loads for a building.

Despite the benefits of cool roofing, it is still a ways off from being adopted as a standard building practice. In the U.S., it faces barriers from misconceptions, aesthetic design concerns and moisture issues caused by non-comprehensive installations. Yet, cool roofing is a simple design measure that can provide significant energy savings and environmental rewards. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Heat Island Group estimates that buildings with cool roofs use up to 40% less cooling energy than buildings with dark colored roofs. A designer specifying a rooftop now has several resources available to make informed and confident cool roof choices.

With increasingly rigorous roofing code and program standards, and promising emerging technologies on the horizon, cool roofs are quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to save energy and help mitigate global warming.

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Cooling the Planet with Cool Roofs

Cool roofs (like those from Conklin) and other reflective surfaces could help mitigate global warming by physically cooling the planet. Increasing the reflectivity of roofs and pavements in all North American cities with populations greater than 1 million would achieve a one-time offset of 57 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions — double the worldwide carbon dioxide emissions total of 2006.

"Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change," says U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

The advantage of reflective surfaces as a method of physically cooling the planet is that it's actually a double-barreled attack. By reducing the temperature in urban areas, less air conditioning energy is used, and therefore fewer carbon dioxide emissions are produced. In addition, because cool surfaces reflect the sun's energy back to space, the actual temperature of the planet is lowered.

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that raising the Earth's average reflectance by 0.3% would result in an average temperature decrease of 0.01 degrees Celsius. That may sound like a modest temperature change, but it's also a relatively modest reflectance change. And, as Andre O. Desjarlais says, "every little bit helps."

The Cool Roofs Roadmap lays out plans to work with India and China on research to try to determine how cool surfaces can not only cool the planet, but also reduce pollution.

"If we do the research, and if the research shows what we suspect in terms of urban heat island mitigation and global cooling, policy can be based on this research," says P. Marc LaFrance.

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U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: Cool Roofs Like Removing All Cars for 11 Years

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced about a year ago that cool roofs (like those installed by Conklin contractors) would be mandatory on all Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. He also urged other federal agencies to follow suit. Chu, also a Nobel-prize winning scientist, stated a potential 10-15% reduction in energy use for those buildings (depending on the configuration of the building and other variables) "simply by having a white roof."

Energy savings aren't the only benefit of cool roofs. The two other reasons Chu mentioned for his advocacy of cool roofs are the role they play in helping mitigating global warming, and their ability to reduce urban heat islands.

Urban heat islands are a result of dark roofs and asphalt pavements in concentrated urban areas increasing the ambient air temperature between 6 and 8 degrees compared to suburban or rural areas. An average 50-65% of urban surfaces are covered with roofs or pavement, and Chu cited a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) study that says increasing the reflectance of those surfaces would have the same effect in terms of global warming mitigation as removing every car in the world from the road for 11 years.

Further quantifying the benefits of cool roofing will be the goal of a multi-year long DOE initiative. The Cool Roofs Roadmap lays out research into the exact impact of cool roofing on three levels:

1. Trimming building energy use
2. Mitigating the urban heat island effect
3. Reducing global warming

The Cool Roofs Roadmap, currently in draft version 2.0, is expected to be finalized by the end of this fiscal year according to Marc LaFrance, building envelope program manager at DOE. The roadmap builds on current and past research to provide proof, and therefore act as a basis for policy, of cool roof benefits.

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