by Brianna Crandall — April 18, 2011—The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that its Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have partnered with Dow Chemical Company to fund key research to design and commercialize the next generation of cool roof components that can significantly reduce the energy consumption of new and existing buildings.
ORNL and LBNL will capitalize on their broad range of cool roof technology experience to focus on the development of new solar reflective roof coatings that would increase the energy savings from existing cool roof technologies by more than 50 percent for new and existing commercial buildings.
The laboratories will work in partnership with Dow to improve the ability of roof coatings to continue reflecting sunlight after years of exposure to the elements. This includes developing technologies that improve the long-term resistance of these materials to dirt build-up and microbial growth.
DOE says the replacement or resurfacing of conventional roofing materials with improved reflective roof coatings could offer building owners energy savings of up to 25 percent on air conditioning—up from 15 percent savings with existing cool roof coatings. This would reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 5 metric tons for every 10,000 square feet of commercial building roof area.
DOE offers Guidelines for Selecting Cool Roofs, which provides technical assistance on types of roofing materials and how to select the roof that will work best on a specific facility.