While many major cities have embraced "cool roof" standards to help residents save money and beat the heat, the Pacific Northwest is lagging behind — though one sustainability leader is determined to change that.
Katie Kaku, senior technical director for Global Heat Reductions, is working to raise awareness about how light-colored roofing materials can lower local temperatures and slash energy costs for homeowners.
"We've all experienced black asphalt on hot summer days, and we know it's hot to the touch," Kaku told local news station KING 5. "And this is because it's absorbing the incoming sunlight and rereleasing it as heat."
Cities can experience temperatures up to 15 degrees hotter than nearby rural areas because of the urban heat island effect — a result of dark, heat-absorbing surfaces such as roofs and asphalt. Kaku pointed out that neighborhoods with more pavement and fewer trees can be 11 degrees warmer than greener waterfront communities.
A cool roof can help with that. By reflecting sunlight instead of absorbing it, cool roofs can lower interior temperatures by 2 to 6 degrees, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That means less air conditioning and lower utility bills for homeowners. It also means fewer heat-related health risks during extreme weather events.
Roofing expert Mike Tappert agrees the switch is both easy and affordable. "Black's the most popular due to the aesthetic," he said. "[But lighter-colored shingles are] generally all within a couple dollars of each other." He added that this small design tweak could have "a huge square footage impact" on a home's heat absorption.
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Cities including Los Angeles and New York already require cool roofs on many new buildings, and Atlanta went a step further, passing a citywide ordinance covering industrial and residential properties, which could lower citywide temperatures by as much as 6 degrees.
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Sign me up 👍 Kaku wants the Pacific Northwest to follow suit. "To the best of my knowledge, neither Washington nor Oregon have any cool roof ordinances or guidelines in their building code," she told KING 5.
In the meantime, Kaku believes homeowners should take matters into their own hands. "By changing the color choices slightly, we can make meaningful action and address the urban heat island effect and reduce temperatures of cities by as much as 2 degrees," Kaku said. "... This is a change we can implement right now."
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