White Painted Roofs = Lower Energy Consumption

It's been mentioned by the new Energy Secretary Steven Chu and supported by Barack Obama that if we were to paint 30 billion square feet of commercial roof space in the United States white, it would be the equivalent of taking 75 million cars off the road for a year. As white roofs can stay up to 30% cooler in the summer.

This is big idea thinking meant to slowdown global warming but if we take it to a micro-level it certainly couldn't hurt our own energy bill.

Tom Silva of This Old House agrees that changing the reflectivity of your roof will keep your home cooler and he recommends painting your roof with a white elastomeric coating and foregoing the ones containing insulating beads as they've been proven to be just as effective as the non-bead paint.

Hat tip ~ Andrew Sullivan

photo: Runder

Charles & Hudson | Comments () |

Brendan Gertner

There's a very simple reason as to why white can make things cooler. It attracts lesser light waves than any other color. The amount of waves you attract is proportional to the temperature. If you paint your roofs white, make sure that you clean it regularly because it gets dirty quicker.

Larry

Another roof possibility is a membrane roof where everything ends up with a solid, leak-proof, 15-20 year roof. We have this at my place of business as well as on our home. The cost is a wee bit more, but when one considers conventional roofing with all the loop holes a roofer can escape through, and its 1 year warranty, there is no comparison. To paint the roof surface white is great, but it needs to then be repeated at least every two years, and that gets expensive. Another plus, the membrane surface can be laid over almost any existing surface and here in the SW where many roofs are flat, it is an excellent alternative.

Charles & Hudson

Thanks for sharing the alternative and with most commercial applications being flat roofs this would make a lot of sense. It's also better to have a long-term solution than worry about it every few years. ;-)

White Painted Roofs = Lower Energy Consumption

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