Over the past 10 years, I’ve written a lot about the many free mobile apps and calculators available to help roofing contractors sell the benefits of energy-efficient, long-lasting roofs. As a result, more than half of the reader inquiries I receive involve requests for information to obtain and use these free apps. Well, the good news is that all of the calculator apps I’ve talked about continue to be free and easily available via the Internet. So, I’m using this month’s column to provide a brief description and website link for each app to help those interested in learning more about these free tools for roofing contractors.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratories maintain a free online calculator that compares the energy savings of different roofing systems based on the reflectivity of the roof surface. For customers who pay a flat rate for electricity used for air conditioning, you can use the Cool Roof Calculator; and customers that pay additional demand charges for peak electricity usage can also use the Cool Peak Calculator.