Cool Roofing & Energy Efficiency

“It’s not so unusual. Right after the first couple sunny spring days you get a call. The owner complains his roof is leaking but it hasn’t rained for a week. You investigate. It is not a roof leak. It is… Read More

The San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) oversees seven public high school facilities just outside of San Francisco, Calif. In an effort to lower its $1.1 million annual electricity bill, the district sought to install photovoltaic (PV) panels on… Read More

Onondaga County sought to evaluate the energy and water retention performance of green or vegetative roofing systems relative to other conventional and energy-efficient roofing systems. A major roof replacement project on multiple buildings at the Jamesville Correctional Facility offered the… Read More

This paper described results from two sets of 20-yr global simulations under different model conditions to examine (i) the effects of urban surfaces (roofs and impervious ground surfaces, termed roads) and (ii) converting roofs to white roofs on global climate…. Read More

During a recent visit to Penn State University, University Park, Pa., President Obama introduces the Better Buildings Initiative – a multipronged effort designed to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy-efficient during the next decade.

President Obama’s proposal to give cash rebates to homeowners who install energy-efficient products in their homes is very good news for many manufacturers and in the rubber and other industries.

A project on the Tucson Convention Center demonstrates that White EPDM reduces air conditioning expenses and the effects of weathering.

For the past decade, reflective roofing materials have stolen the headlines in terms of energy-efficient roofing. Organizations such as the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) and the U.S. Department of Energy and its ENERGY STAR program have been diligent in… Read More

Playing on the recent election, “Joe the Architect” actually believes that specifying a cool-roof membrane allows him to perform an environmental good. Nothing could be further from the truth. The lemming like nature of the design community and, more importantly,… Read More

The days when heating and cooling costs were a relatively insignificant line item on a facility manager’s budget are long gone. Oil prices, though lower than they were last year, remain high and extremely unstable. Natural gas and coal prices… Read More