WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) hosted a successful International Roof Coatings Conference on July 16-19, 2012 in Baltimore, Md. with more than 125 attendees representing 65 companies and organizations. Held at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore Hotel, the conference hosted manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, government agencies and industry organizations.

The conference commenced with an opening reception on Monday evening to welcome attendees. On Tuesday, July 17th, presentations proceeded after opening remarks from Jeffrey Blank, RCMA president, and Andre Desjarlais, group leader of the Building Envelopes Group at ORNL. “One year ago, RCMA decided to create a technical-focused conference that appealed to a wide variety of professionals from the building industry, with an emphasis on reaching companies and individuals in the roof coating, building envelope, green building, cool roofing, research, and architectural communities,” said Blank. “The International Roof Coatings Conference is a first for the industry. RCMA’s partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with the impressive lineup of presenters, made this conference a success and opens the door to the possibility of hosting future conferences.” 

Kurt Shickman, executive director of Global Cool Cities Alliance, delivered the Tuesday keynote address on behalf of Art Rosenfeld of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Shickman presented Rosenfeld’s presentation entitled “White Roofs to Cool Your Building, Your City and Cool the World,” which showcased how cool surfaces deliver benefits at the building, city, and global level. 

Marc LaFrance, technology development manager for Building Envelope and Windows R&D programs at the Department of Energy’s Office of Building Technology, delivered Wednesday’s keynote: “U.S. DOE Building Envelope and Roof Research for Today and Tomorrow.” LaFrance’s presentation touched on roof technologies for the future, including the next generation of attic/roof systems for sloped roofs, asphaltic cool roofs, higher reflectance commercial roofs, and building-integrated photovoltaic cool roofs.

Attendees were highly engaged in lively discussions prompted by ten presentations from leading voices in the roof coatings community:

• Accelerated Aging of Roofing Materials: How to Mimic the Changes in Solar Reflectance
Hugo Destaillats, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

• An Outcome-Based, Multivariate Approach to Roof Surface Thermal Contribution James Hoff, Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing

• Analysis of TPO Roofing Membrane and Methods to Improve Adhesion of Waterborne Elastomeric Roof Coatings 
Joe Rokowski, Dow Construction Chemicals

• Coatings Forensics
Steven Heinje, Quest Construction Products

• Cool Roofs Cause Condensation – Fact or Fiction
Philip Dregger, Technical Roof Services, Inc.

• Elastomeric Roof Coatings Performance, Durability and Life Cycle of Post Applied Coatings as Compared to Inline Coated Manufactured Membranes
Amir Khan & Dan White, Gardner-Gibson

• FEVE Fluoropolymer Resins for Long-Life Coatings on Roof Surfaces
Robert Parker, AGC Chemicals Americas

• Reduction of Surface Reflectance through Controlled Particulate-Microbial Contamination
Meng-Dawn Cheng, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

•Test Method Changes Impact on Roofing Solar Reflectance and Thermal Emittance
Jeffrey Steuben, Cool Roof Rating Council

• Water-Based PVDF Coatings for Cool White Roof Applications
Sean Arsenault, Arkema

For more information, visit www.roofcoatings.org.