There is a fairly new phrase in the roofing arena that not many people in the general public are familiar with, although they should be for a number of reasons. It is the term Cool Roof.

Per the California Energy Commission “Cool roofs are highly reflective, highly emissive (meaning heat emitting) roofing materials that will stay 50 – 60 degrees cooler than a normal roof under a hot summer sun.”

California’s Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential and Non residential Buildings became effective on January 1, 2010. These standards require residential and non residential buildings to meet stronger energy efficiency requirements. These requirements cover many areas other than roofing however roofing will have the most economic impact.

How this will affect commercial, industrial and multi-family real estate is that when the old roof needs to be replaced it will need to comply with the new standard; any new construction will have to conform to the new construction codes.

It isn’t necessary to replace a roof to take advantage of the benefits that a cool roof has to offer. The method of achieving this on an existing roof is by applying an approved cool roof reflective coating over the existing roof. There are tremendous advantages to this, namely: