The green movement has taken over our way of thinking. From hybrid cars traveling the streets to reusable shopping bags being offered in grocery stores, we find these green initiatives everywhere we go.
It’s only a matter of time before solar applications will revolutionize the roofing industry, and the sooner roofing contractors see the light, the better off they’ll be.
Completed in the spring of 2008, the cool and green roof demonstration/research project of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based architecture and design firm A3C took place atop its UrbEn Retreat. The project was implemented with the assistance of Firestone Building Products and in collaboration with Prof. Moji Nawab of the University of Michigan’s Sustainable Design Research Lab.
New Jersey’s Atlantic City Convention Center is the largest single roof-mounted, grid-connected solar system in the United States. At almost 500,000 square feet, the project is a huge investment for the city, which wasn’t about to gamble on its new roof. Facility managers wisely chose to enhance their energy saving investment with a durable and highly reflective TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) roof membrane.
Sustainability and green design are the largest emerging trends driving change in the roofing industry today. Frequently you will find the terms used separately or synonymously, indicating confusion in true meaning.
Garden roofs are a scenic application that is swiftly gaining popularity globally for commercial buildings in metropolitan areas. They are found on convention centers, college campuses, airports and medical facilities, just to name a few.
Designing and choosing a sustainable roofing system is not a new idea to architects. Garden roofing systems give architects another avenue of design while providing building owners the best of all worlds - beauty, innovation and energy efficiency.
In early October of last year, Congress/former President Bush signed the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, virtually ensuring the continued health of the solar roofing industry through 2016. Solar-powered roofs qualify for a 30-percent federal tax credit (directly reducing the property owner’s federal tax bill) as well as a five-year accelerated depreciation.
Roofing isn’t the easiest of trades, and each roofing project presents its own challenges. The installation of a traditional roofing system can be summarized, albeit simplistically, as the installation of the insulation, membrane and, possibly, surfacing, followed by the installation of all of the flashing work necessary to complete the roofing installation.
Increasing raw material costs, higher landfill tipping fees, legislation to restrict disposal of construction materials - and an architectural community that demands the lightest environmental footprint achievable - all are leading toward the mainstreaming of post-consumer recycling and the day when specifiers routinely call for recycling of roofs at the end of their service life.
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