Rating Cool Roofs

The recently formed Cool Roof Rating Council’s (CRRC) mission is to “implement and communicate fair, accurate and credible radiative energy performance rating systems for roof surfaces.” CRRC plans to “develop tools that help customers evaluate other features of cool roofs that will affect their ability to provide sustained radiative benefits.”

CRRC membership is diverse. Members include representatives from roofing materials manufacturers, roof consultants, energy service providers, governmental officials and environmental groups among others.

In addition, CRRC hopes to “provide analytical tools to help code officials, electric utilities and specifiers/builders accurately assess the energy performance of reflective roofing products, which will aid in product selection, building load estimation and equipment sizing. And develop educational materials and tools that help customers understand the benefits of reflective roofing products, e.g., energy savings, air quality improvement, and extended life of a roof system.”

Some compare CRRC to the National Fenestration Ratings Council, a third-party organization that develops and issues ratings for windows. CRRC plans to develop a procedure for rating roofs, according to Peter Kelly, assistant administrator for CRRC.

Another association looking at cool roofs is SPRI, which represents sheet membranes and component suppliers to the roofing industry. SPRI is sponsoring research at Oak Ridge to evaluate the intermediate and long-term reflectivity of thermoplastic roof membranes. A question SPRI wants addressed is how quickly membranes change.