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Hot Climates
37.5% 39.7%
34.2%
11.8%
0% 3.7% .3%
29.4%
21.8% 22.5%
10.2% 13.5%
5.9%
0%
Figure 1. Florida Solar Energy Center researchers compared the air-conditioning power use of seven identically built houses with
different roof coverings. Reflective roofing dramatically reduced total power use (bottom chart) and had an even greater effect
on peak A/C power demand (middle chart). Insulating the roof deck and sealing the attic, without using a reflective roof, cut
total energy use somewhat but did not reduce peak cooling loads noticeably.
Reflective Roofing ble range but reflect rays in the infrared When FSEC researchers put a white
It’s well established that reflective and ultraviolet spectra that account for coating on the ten-year-old galvanized
roofing materials can lighten the load much of the sun’s heat. These colors steel roof of a retail strip mall, the roof’s
on home air conditioners. When give designers more choices, while still reflectance went from 30% to 77%. The
researchers at the Florida Solar Energy saving considerable energy (Figure 2). average air-conditioning reduction in
Center (FSEC), where I am a principal BASF Corporation’s ULTRA-Cool seven monitored shops was more than
scientist, whitened the roofs of nine metal-roof coatings (800/669-2273, 24% (Figure 3, next page).
occupied homes in the summer of www.basf.com), which use spectrally If you want unfinished metal roof-
1994, air-conditioning savings aver- selective pigments from Ferro ing, Galvalume (an alloy of aluminum
aged 19%. We got even better informa- Corporation (216/641-8580, www. and zinc) is a much better cool-roof
tion by comparing seven otherwise ferro.com), have a 38% reflectivity in choice than galvanized steel, especially
identical new homes with various roof colors that achieve only 25% reflectiv- in mixed heating and cooling climates.
types in a study sponsored by Florida ity when made with standard pig- Galvalume maintains its reflectance as
Power & Light (FPL) during the sum- ments. And at least two companies, it ages, and its low emissivity means it
mer of 2000 (see Figure 1, previous Classic Products (800/543-8938, holds heat well in winter even though
page). All these homes had R-19 ceiling www.classicroof.com) and MCA Tile it reflects well in summer.
insulation, but each had a different (800/736-6221, www.mca-tile.com) now
roof covering. Clearly, reflective roof- supply metal or clay tile in a range of Tile Roofing
ing made a huge difference. colors with solar reflectance around It’s conventional wisdom that tile
One house of the seven had an insu- 30%. Classic’s “Musket Brown,” for roofs are cooler than shingle roofs. To a
lated roof deck, to keep the ductwork instance, reflects 31% — quite a bit bet- small extent, that’s true: S-tiles permit
within the sealed, conditioned attic. ter than a white shingle — while the cooling airflow between the tile and
That modification did save energy on same color in traditional paint would the roof deck, and their thermal mass
average, but not as much as the reflec- reflect only 8%. stores energy during the day and re-
tive roofs — and it had little effect on Bare metal roofs. Unfinished galva- radiates it at night, instead of passing it
peak loads. nized or “tin” roofs are still fairly com- all through to the attic.
Cool colors. Until recently, a roof had mon in the hot Southeast. Galvanized But the color of the tile matters. For
to be white to have high solar steel is highly reflective when new, but instance, we painted some dark gray
reflectance — something not every cus- its reflectivity soon drops as the zinc tiles bright white at midsummer in cen-
tomer wants. But we now have tile and oxidizes; and the material also has low tral Florida in 1996, and we measured
metal roofing systems made with infrared emittance. The high absorp- an 18% drop in space-cooling energy.
“spectrally selective” paints, which tance and low emittance can combine Shape appears to be far less impor-
absorb some colors of light in the visi- to keep the roof blazing hot. tant than color. In the seven-home
side-by-side study for Florida Power & ambient air temperature. The thermal side facing a clear air space. Placed
Light, one of the homes had flat white mass of tile will not let attic heat escape under the rafters, aluminum’s low
tile, and another had white S-tile. We so readily. emissivity prevents heat from radiating
didn’t see much difference — both off the shiny surface onto the insula-
roofs did about 20% better than the Radiant Barrier Systems tion below (Figure 4, next page). If the
asphalt shingle roof. An S-shaped red When a house has a dark, sun- surface gets dirty, it won’t work as well;
tile roof in the same study was only 3% absorbing roof, radiant barriers in the that’s why radiant barriers placed shiny
better than dark asphalt shingles. attic can cut heat gain and save energy. side down, so dust can’t collect, work
In general, light-colored metal roofs But they don’t necessarily work in better than radiant reflective material
will outperform tile in a hot climate every case, and they’re not always the placed facing up.
like Florida’s. At night, they actually best solution. There’s now a range of material
radiate attic heat upward into the night The basic radiant barrier is a layer of choices for attic radiant barriers,
sky, cooling the attic to below the aluminum foil placed with its shiny including radiant-barrier sheathing,
FI-Foil Corp.
Figure 4. Radiant barrier foil under the rafters stops heat from radiat-
ing into the attic, because the foil will not emit heat radiation even
when it’s hot (top left and right, before and after). Lo/Mit low-
emissivity silicone coating spray-applied to the roof underside (right)
is a cost-effective alternative method.
Solec, Inc.