Cool Roof Coating

When my asphalt roof gave up on me a full five years before its warranty expired, I did some research and found out that this is a common occurrence in hot climates like mine (I’m located in the Caribbean). I learned that hotter the climate, the shorter the lifespan of the shingles. Meanwhile, I had to replace the roof, and I had to act fast. I opted for a metal roof with a cool roof coating that would drastically reduce my need for air conditioning.

A cool roof coating reflects and releases the sun’s energy as light back into the sky instead of allowing it to enter the building below as heat. Besides increasing the comfort of the occupants, and decreasing roof maintenance costs, cool roofs benefit the environment and public health in a number of ways. Using my home as an example, my cool roof directly reduced greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy for air conditioning; therefore less CO² is emitted from my local power plant.

This option is not only for residential applications: the environmentally friendly option of cool roof coating increasingly offers institutional and commercial facilities improved building performance. Due to the hard work of associations such as the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC), and Energy Star, together with the integration of cool roofs into certification programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB), and California’s Title 24 building energy code, the market for cool roofing products, which has existed for years, has expanded considerably.

The main reason homeowners and other proprietors will look at installing cool roof coating is the potential savings from cooling energy. Savings in northern climates can be 10 percent of cooling energy, plus money saved because of reduction in demand. In southern and tropical climates such as mine, the savings can be higher. Some studies suggest savings of 20 percent of cooling load, or even more.