In the past several years, the roofing trend has been to move toward energy-efficient technology. Cool roofs have evolved to help keep buildings cooler and make them more energy efficient. When embarking upon a roof resurfacing project for a commercial building or structure, this technology can be an attractive choice, given its potential savings and positive impact upon the environment.
Cool roof systems are typically white and are characterized by levels of reflectance and emittance.
Reflectance is the percentage of solar energy reflected by a surface; the higher the percentage, the more energy reflected from the surface.
Emittance deals with the energy absorbed and is defined as the percentage of energy a material can radiate away. Materials with low emittance tend to heat up more easily because they collect and trap heat.
The key property required of any roof coating material is durability. Durability implies resistance to the effects of UV degradation from the sun. The sunlight strikes the roof, such as asphalt, the asphalt absorbs some of the radiation and the polymer begins to vibrate and break up into smaller pieces. This is the deterioration that is associated with the harmful effects of sunlight. This can be seen easily in aged asphalt roofing. When new, it looks OK. However, six months later, there is a brown chalky residue. This is the result of damage from the sun. Cool white roof coatings are transparent to ultraviolet radiation which means they do not absorb the sun’s destructive radiation. The coating is not absorbing any of the radiation; it is reflecting the radiation back into the atmosphere. The coating contains UV blocking pigments that reflect this degrading UV radiation and so the roof substrate is protected.
To stay cool, then, a surface should ideally have both high reflectance and high emittance.
What A/C unit is running cooler?
What roof looks 60 Degrees cooler?
When the air temperature is in the upper 90’s, a dark roof can exceed 160 degrees. But a roof with our cool white coatings will typically top out around 100 degrees because our coatings have high solar reflectance. This reduces the heat transfer to the interior of the building by reflecting the sun’s heat away from the building’s roof. The building’s air conditioning systems also do not have to work as hard to keep the building’s interior cool, which in turn, saves you money!
Cool roof coating systems add years onto your roof’s life by prolonging the inevitable deterioration due to age. These reflective coating systems provide added UV protection, durability and sustainability to the roofs surfacing allowing the roof to experience less deterioration throughout the years.
These cool roof coatings are installed in place, directly over your existing aged, leaking and/or failing roof. There is no need for a costly and timely roof replacement, eliminating any trips to a landfill site.
