How do you build a cool roof?

What are cool roofs made of?

The cool roof of a commercial building typically has a solar reflectance between 0.20 and 0.35 range. The reflectance of a dark roof however can be 0.05. Because a metallic surface has a low emissivity. Most other roofing materials have a high emissivity.

A cool roof on a commercial building has the same purpose as on a residential property. It reflects the sun’s heat and emits it back to the sky, thus, keeping the commercial building cool. It is the use of two properties: Solar Reflectance and Thermal Emittance. Where solar reflectance is the fraction of solar energy that is reflected by the roof, thermal emittance is the roof surface’s ability to radiate the absorbed heat.

Do Cool Roofs work?

A cool roof will reduce the heat’s thermal radiation back into the atmosphere, creating a convection of heat into exterior air, and the conduction of heat into your commercial building. This urban air temperature is lower and mitigates the effect of urban heat. It will also slow ground level ozone from forming long with reducing smog. A cool roof will provide the building owner cost in energy savings during the summer months.

What are the benefits of a cool roof?

A cool roof is one way to cut back on energy cost for cooling, a big plus in states like Texas where the summers are brutal. It is an eco-friendly method to roofing that uses basic knowledge to create a home more energy-efficient, but there are other cool roof benefits too:

• Energy Savings: As we’ve already mentioned, this the main benefit, but how does a cool roof save energy expenses? A cool roof doesn’t absorb as much of the sun’s heat, keeping your home cooler, less air conditioning is needed.

• Eco-Friendly: Another topic we’ve mentioned already; a cool roof is an eco-friendly way to keep a home cooler. How? A cool roof will reduce your home’s need from power plants that create carbon emissions. Electricity consumption creates over thirty percent of carbon emissions! Any drop we can help with helps the Earth and our future.

• Lessen Power Outages: The more businesses and homes that have a cool roof will use their electricity less, and that will lessen the demands on the power grids. That will minimize the rolling brownouts and power outages.  

• The Air Temperature: The more structures that have a cool roof installed will reduce the air temperature in an industrial area or neighborhood. That heat is referred to as the urban heat island because there is a lack of natural moisture in densely populated areas. In other words, there are more structures than there are open spaces and vegetation. A non-cool roof can raise the temperature in the air by as much as 90 degrees!

• Roof Life Expectancy: By decreasing a roof’s temperature with a cool roof instead, you will extend its lifespan.  A dark roof absorbs heat, which stresses the construction and, as a result, shortens its lifespan.