Benefits
Cool surfaces provide economic, environmental, and health benefits for residents, property owners, and the broader community.
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Reduce Energy Costs |
Cool roofs and walls lower the need for air conditioning, which saves energy and money. A cool roof can decrease annual heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) energy costs in a single-story building by up to 28%. Similarly, cool walls can reduce annual HVAC energy costs by up to 27% (Levinson et al., 2019).
Since cool roofs and walls reduce air conditioning use during the hottest periods of the day, energy savings occur when the demand for electricity is at its peak. Building owners that pay for energy based on the time of use can save energy when it is most expensive. Learn more about the potential energy savings of cool walls!
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Lower Indoor Air Temperature |
Cool roofs and walls help maintain cooler indoor environments, protecting occupant health, comfort, and safety.
For example, in non-air-conditioned residential buildings, cool roofs can lower maximum indoor temperatures by 2 to 6 °F (Synnefa et al., 2007)
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Extend Service Life |
Cool roofs and walls experience less thermal stress and degradation, potentially lowering roof maintenance costs and extending the roof's lifespan. This can lead to longer-lasting roofing materials, often resulting in extended warranties from manufacturers.
Cool roofs can also help preserve and improve the efficiency and prolong the life of rooftop equipment, such as solar panels or HVAC systems, by maintaining lower temperatures and reducing thermal stress on equipment.
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Improve Desirability of Your Property |
A shiny new roof and a fresh coat of paint don’t just look good, but are features that you can advertise. A “cool building” has lower operating costs, lower indoor temperatures, and protects the community!
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Cool Outside Air |
Cool roofs and walls stay chill in the sun by reflecting sunlight. Lower roof and wall temperatures reduce the transfer of heat from the building's exterior to the outside air, cooling outdoor temperatures. This helps mitigate the "urban heat island" effect in which the air in a city is warmer than that outside the city.
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Slow Climate Change |
Cool roofs and walls decrease heat absorbed at the Earth's surface and thus can lower surface temperatures. This decrease in surface temperatures reduces heat flow into the atmosphere, offsetting warming caused by greenhouse gases. Learn more!
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Improve Air Quality |
Cool roofs and walls decrease urban air temperatures and thus slow the formation of harmful air pollutants, such as ground-level ozone. Ozone, the primary component of smog, can aggravate respiratory illness and act as a greenhouse gas.
Reflective roofs and walls also reduce cooling energy demand in air-conditioned buildings, decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants at power plants that burn fossil fuels.
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Protect Public Heath |
Lower air temperatures and improved air quality reduce heat-related and smog-related health issues, including heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and asthma. Lower outdoor and indoor temperatures also help prevent heat-related deaths during heat waves. This is particularly important for communities experiencing more extreme heat events each year and for cities lacking the necessary infrastructure (e.g., air-conditioned homes, cooling centers) or awareness of how to behave and acclimate to extreme heat.
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Improve Grid Stability |
Since cool roofs and walls reduce air conditioning use during the hottest periods of the day, the associated energy savings occur when the demand for electricity peaks. Therefore, cool roofs and walls reduce the stress on the energy grid during hot summer months and help avoid shortages that can cause blackouts or brownouts.
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Advance Equity |
Underinvested and formerly redlined communities often experience hotter temperatures and higher energy burden. Cool surfaces are an affordable measure to reduce temperatures and energy bills. When targeted in low- or moderate-income (LMI) communities, they often align with community heat equity goals. You can learn more from NOAA and Enterprise.