There is a great emphasis for industries going green to increase their environmental friendliness. The roofing industry is one of them. Most roofing material is not environmentally friendly. Hundreds of thousands of extra material are used annually for landfills, which puts unnecessary strain on the environment. The use of green roofing material for both residential and commercial buildings is, however, gaining ground. More roofing companies are going green and encouraging their customers to adopt these technologies for their buildings. In essence, roofing companies going green does not only benefit the environment and save energy, but any leftover roofing material can also be passed on to other industries where they can be put to good use.
To begin, energy-saving, green roofing products work in different ways. Using special coatings, they prevent the destruction of a roof due to UV radiation. Special pigments, on the other hand, prevent the penetration of infrared radiation. These impede the shortening of a roof’s lifespan by preventing temperature fluctuations. They also reflect away the sun’s rays from the building. Through all these mechanisms, green roofing materials ensure that less energy is consumed for heating and air conditioning purposes for any given building.
Cool roof coatings are a part of the going green roofing movement because when applied to rooftops, they reflect the sun’s rays away from the building preventing UV radiation. They have high thermal-emitting properties keeping the roof cooler by reflecting away solar rays, and preventing absorption of heat. They also quickly release any absorbed heat. If your roof is not absorbing more heat than necessary, the energy used for air conditioning is significantly reduced. Cool roofs restrict surface temperatures to approximately 120 degrees, lowering the demand for electricity and reducing cooling costs by 10-30%. The good news is that this coating can be applied to almost any roofing material.
Green roofs, on the other hand, work by imitating the ecosystem of a garden on your rooftop. In the summer, the vegetation reduces the heat on the roof compared to that in the atmosphere. The bottom layer of green roofs is waterproof, on top of which lies soil and vegetation. An irrigation system may also be present. As can be imagined, all these layers prevent solar rays from directly hitting your roof. With this comes lower heat absorption keeping your roof cooler compared to the surrounding atmosphere. As a result of this, you end up using less energy for air conditioning reducing your energy consumption and saving you money.
In the winter, green roofing materials work by improving the thermal performance of a roof through heat retention that would otherwise be emitted into the environment. Due to retained heat, less energy is needed to heat buildings so as to ward off the biting cold. Building temperatures are then easily regulated throughout the year, significantly reducing the amount of energy used in heating and cooling the building during winter and hot weather respectively.
Additionally, the use of green roofing materials greatly contributes to fuel efficiency. Most roofing companies do not manufacture their own roofing material. They get their roofing material from manufacturers across the country. Once ordered for, these materials are hauled and transported across the country to the roofing companies preferred destination. As you can imagine, a lot of fuel is used during the transportation of these heavy materials. Green roofing material is significantly lighter than traditional roofing material. This leads to the consumption of less fuel during transportation, saving a lot of energy.
Roofing companies are being encouraged to go green. Initial installation of green roofing could be expensive but the benefits in the long term, especially with regards to energy consumption efficiency, are worth the extra expense. Green roofing has also been seen to have huge environmental benefits by reducing the heat island effect in urban areas.
Written by Precision Construction Services, the best service for roofing in Columbia, MO.