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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Sustainable roofs with real energy savings

Conference ·
OSTI ID:451193
This paper addresses the general concept of sustainability and relates it to the building owner`s selection of a low-slope roof. It offers a list of performance features of sustainable roofs. Experiences and data relevant to these features for four unique roofs are then presented which include: self-drying systems, low total equivalent warming foam insulation, roof coatings and green roofs. The paper concludes with a list of sustainable roofing features worth considering for a low-slope roof investment. Building owners and community developers are showing more interest in investing in sustainability. The potential exists to design, construct, and maintain roofs that last twice as long and reduce the building space heating and cooling energy loads resulting from the roof by 50% (based on the current predominant design of a 10-year life and a single layer of 1 to 2 in. (2.5 to 5.1 cm) of insulation). The opportunity to provide better low-slope roofs and sell more roof maintenance service is escalating. The general trend of outsourcing services could lead to roofing companies` owning the roofs they install while the traditional building owner owns the rest of the building. Such a situation would have a very desirable potential to internalize the costs of poor roof maintenance practices and high roof waste disposal costs, and to offer a profit for installing roofs that are more sustainable. 14 refs., 12 figs.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-96OR22464
OSTI ID:
451193
Report Number(s):
CONF-9610200--2; ON: DE97003659
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English