So what’s so cool about the cool roof?
What’s cool about it is that it gives you cooler interiors through its ability to reflect sunlight or albedo thus absorbing less radiation than a traditional dark-colored room. It has the ability to reflect up to 80% of sun’s rays and emit 70% of the heat radiation absorbed, while the regular asphalt roof , on the other hand, can only reflect as much as 26%.
This is perfect for urban areas where heat is slightly higher as it is surrounded by lesser greeneries. There is also what we call as the urban heat island ef ect, that occurs where the combination of absorbed heat from the asphalt on the roofs, pavements and other urban infrastructures add up to increase the surrounding temperature to 1 to 2 degrees higher.
It becomes the perfect roof of the future as the world is in anticipation of the global warming phenomenon that’s believed to increase the temperature few more degrees higher in the coming years.
There are 3 types of cool roofs. The one we already know but haven’t really properly labeled is the green plated roof. This is the garden type of roof that’s either with decorative plants and flowers or with organic or inorganic vegetables or fruits, or just plain flat grass. The other two are the coated roof and membrane roof, both offer just about the same purpose, however in a different form hence the name. Both have reflective capabilities however the inherently cool roofs using membrane has the highest reflectance and emittance measurements amongst any roofing materials available.
The glory of cool roofs is that aside from it being able to cool urban areas, it can also reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions as well as smog formation.
It also provides energy savings even in places that are usually cool.
All in all, it increases indoor comfort by cooling both building indoor and outdoor. Now that’s cool!
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