Cool roofs grow darker
New technologies expand color palette.

Walk barefoot across a parking lot on an August day and you’ll soon figure out which colors stay cooler in the hot sun: The blacktop absorbs sunlight, while the painted white lines reflect it. This elementary principle forms the backbone of “cool roof” practices. If you put a light-color, reflective surface on your roof, it absorbs less heat, keeps your building’s temperature down, and—most important—lowers your air-conditioning bills.

But according to the Journal of Property Management, researchers are developing new reflective materials that don’t require a white roof—and in certain cases may be applied to an existing one. So if your office building just got a new, dark roof, or if your multifamily would violate neighborhood regulations with a white or bright silver top, you might still be able to cool off your roof.

For more information about roof heat transfer, cool-roof technologies, and how much cooler your building could be with a cool roof visit the Web site of the Heat Island Group, part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at http://eetd.lbl.gov/HeatIsland/CoolRoofs.


Photo © Brand X Pictures.

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