A cool roof has the ability to reflect a majority of the sun’s heat away from the rooftop and radiate the small percentage of heat absorbed by the roof's surface back into the atmosphere.
Today, cool roofs come in a variety of different colors; however, a bright white surfaced rooftop has the ability to reflect the greatest amount of sunlight away from the building. The concept is similar to wearing a light colored shirt versus a dark colored shirt. The shirt with the lighter color will allow you to remain cooler on a hot day apposed to a dark colored shirt that will absorb the heat; therefore, making you hotter.
Cool roofs are favored by building tenants and owners because they are able to keep the inside air temperature of the building cooler without using the air conditioning system as often. This is an excellent way for tenants and building owners to save a great amount of money on their energy utility bills and put less stress on their HVAC equipment, allowing them to last longer.The Cool Roof Rating Council or CRRC is an excellent independent, non-biased organization that has established a system for providing Building Code Bodies, Energy Service Providers, Architects & Specifiers, Property Owners and Community Planners with accurate radiative property data on roof surfaces that may improve the energy efficiency of buildings while positively impacting our environment. They determine the “coolness” of a roofing product based on Solar Reflectance (SR) the portion of the suns’ heat that is reflected by the roof and Thermal Emittance (TE) the capability the roof surface has to radiate the heat absorbed by the roof. The CRRC records initial testing values and aged (3-year) testing values to determine the reflectivity the product in question is able to perform. Visit their website (http://coolroofs.org) for a complete directory of rated products ranging from asphalt roofing, roof coatings, single-plies, metal and more.
National Coatings has nineteen fluid-applied, highly reflective roof coatings that have been tested and rated by the CRRC. Our AcryShield roof coatings are some of the highest rated products listed in the directory for solar reflectance, thermal emittance and SRI (Solar Reflectance Index, the measure of solar reflectance and thermal emittance which is used as a guide to determine how much solar heat the roof is capable of discarding). For a full listing of our Cool Roof Rating Council Compliant Products, click here.
