Editor's note: The opinions in this article are those of the author and not NRCA.
The experts can argue all they want, but if your client's building is located in the southern half of the U.S., you don't need an energy calculator to determine a reflective roof system almost always will save the property owner money. And as a contractor, it's generally not costing you more money to install one.
Still, there's more at work here. According to André Desjarlais, program manager of the Building Envelopes Research program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., the types of roof systems being installed are changing.
"There has been a major shift in the types of roof systems being applied today compared with 10 years ago, and the change truly has been astounding," he says. "However, the trend toward higher insulation values in the codes also may change the way we look at cool roofing's energy savings."
The International Energy Conservation Code® (IECC) has upped the ante on increased roof insulation levels in the previous two code versions (2009 and 2012). Not long ago, R-10 was the norm, but currently it's R-25 or R-30. This means the higher the mandated R-values, the lower the energy-saving benefits associated with cool roofs. Fortunately for contractors who specialize in reflective roofing, there are plenty of caveats to this statement.
Most important, code changes that mandate high R-values typically only apply to new construction projects, which continue to lag behind reroofing work. Even a state as radical as California has the common sense to include legislation that bypasses higher R-value requirements if they are a poor fit for the building being reroofed.
"A contractor should consider exploring all the energy-saving options, including cool roofing, especially the most cost-effective ones over time," Desjarlais says.
Reflective roofing is a widely available and competitively priced product right now, and it is one of the leading energy-saving options.
Peak demand charges
Although the roofing industry has been focusing on saving electricity with cool roofs, it seems many experts are neglecting one of the strongest arguments for reflective roof systems. It's an issue that potentially can end the debate about using reflective roof systems in many northern climates.
For commercial users of electricity, there typically are two parts to their energy bills: an energy charge (the total amount of energy used) and a demand charge (based on the highest 15-minute peak demand each month). The demand charge is universally highest on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The demand charge can represent 30 to 70 percent of a total commercial user's electric bill and is higher during summer as a result of cooling demand.
Typically, demand charges are levied on larger commercial and industrial customers; time-of-use bills; and/or when energy usage exceeds a certain level, such as 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) during one month.
Every state has some type of demand charge in place, but levels vary depending on the electricity supply profile in the region. Demand charges rightfully are procured from customers to cover utilities' fixed costs for providing a given level of power. For example, utilities must have enough capacity on standby to supply all customers with heavy HVAC loads during the hottest summer days.
Peak load charges make it desirable for customers with large buildings to shift electrical usage to nonpeak hours and/or reduce power usage during peak hours. Some utilities also pass savings onto customers with more consistent demand loads. However, in the real world, the strategy of conducting business during off hours is difficult and/or unacceptable.
"The one issue underplayed in the cool roofing equation is demand charges," Desjarlais says. "For property owners, the demand charges often dwarf the usage charges. In fact, the demand charge can be as high as a factor of 10 compared with the usage charge."
York, Pa.-based Stem Marketing, an international marketing audit company, provides the following example of demand charges for two customers: Customer A uses 50 kilowatts (kW) of electricity for 50 hours per month during peak demand. Customer B uses 5 kW for 500 hours per month. Both companies use the same amount of power, but because Customer B's peak energy load is much less and spread over 500 hours, its electric bill only is $515 per month. Customer A's profile features higher demand (50 kW load) for a much shorter 50-hour period, so it pays more than three times as much for electricity—$1,775 per month.
Now, consider how much more a cool roof can save Customer A, who must use most of its electricity during the high-demand spike when air conditioning loads are peaking.
"People who are supporting cool roofing are missing out on a substantial opportunity to further promote the benefits of their products," Desjarlais summarizes.
Tom Taylor, executive director of single-ply systems development at GAF, Wayne, N.J., came to a similar conclusion during his presentation at an RCI Great Lakes Chapter meeting held earlier this year.
Taylor presented an electric bill from a Braintree, Mass.-based company for electricity charges between July 16, 2013, and Aug. 13, 2013. The total amount due was $20,244.94 of which $16,167.12 (about 80 percent) was a demand charge. A dark-colored roof system covers the office building—not a manufacturing plant—so most of its peak electricity demand is used for cooling the building.
In California, the average demand charges for Pacific Gas & Electric have increased 31 percent during the past three years. One reason for the increase in demand charges is attributed to an aging national electrical grid and the need to construct additional "peak" plants to handle energy demand. To a lesser extent, the growth in electric vehicle charging stations and climate change (warmer summers) also play a part.
Additionally, the proliferation of solar power systems has led to "greater grid volatility," according to Stem Marketing's report, which also mentions the importance of increasing insulation when attempting to lower demand charges. If you install reflective roofing, the demand charge concept can be a substantial marketing tool when selling cool roofing.
First, learn more about specific demand charges in your area. You can prepare the same examples of demand charge fees that Stem Marketing and Taylor have provided by requesting an actual bill from a property owner or using your monthly electric bill to demonstrate the concept. Contacting a local electrical provider for more information about trends in demand charges also can help.
When you take this proactive approach, it leads to a different conversation with clients—customers and potential clients clearly can see you are looking out for their best interests. In fact, many property owners don't even know how much demand charges are increasing their monthly electricity bills.
Heating degree days
When the subject of cool roofing and energy savings comes up, heating degree days or cooling degree days are mentioned, and there seems to be a lot of confusion about these terms. It's tempting to think a term that includes "heating" means you need to turn on the heat, and a term that includes "cooling" means you need to turn on the air conditioning, but this is not the case.
A heating degree day is a way of summarizing the annual heating (or cooling in the case of cooling degree days) requirements in a particular climate. This concept may seem complex, but actually it is quite simple.
On a heating degree day (HDD), the temperature falls below a standard comfortable temperature (usually 65 F), so a building or home needs to be heated to maintain the target temperature. A cooling degree day (CDD) is a day when the temperature is above that target, requiring cooling. Turning climate data into a HDD or CDD is a matter of simple math. If the average temperature on a given day is 80 F, a building needs to be cooled 15 degrees to reach the target 65 F. This one calendar day would be counted as 15 CDD.
As another example, let's consider a typical New York City winter day with a high temperature of 40 F and low temperature of 30 F, for an average temperature of 35 F. This one day would generate 30 HDD (65 - 35 = 30). A month of similar days could accumulate 900 HDD, which provides an idea how HDD can be added over periods of time to provide a rough estimate of seasonal heating requirements.
During the course of a heating season, for example, the number of HDD for New York City is 5,050 whereas in Barrow, Alaska, the number of HDD is 19,990. Barrow doesn't have any more days in the year, but it has lower average temperatures.
Some would argue that in a climate where HDD exceeds CDD, a cool roof does not make sense, but this is not correct because average daily temperatures tend to vary farther to the low side, particularly overnight. Because of this effect, it is common, even for warmer climates, to have more HDD than CDD. An additional factor is building occupants, lighting and equipment generate internal heat, which tends to reduce heating loads and increase cooling loads.
There are a number of online resources where you can find HDD and CDD data for climate stations throughout the U.S., such as www.degreedays.net and www.ncdc.noaa.gov.
Coping with building codes
Unless an architect or roof consultant is on the job, the responsibility for following local, state and/or federal building codes technically rests with the professional roofing contractor. For new construction applications, about 25 states follow IECC 2012, which requires insulation packages of up to R-30. Of course, with a cool roof system, a property owner may get the equivalent of another R-3 or R-4 "free" by using reflective materials, regardless of it being mandated by code.
"The problem with IECC is different jurisdictions adopt different versions of the code," Desjarlais says. "So throughout the U.S., we have a 'mish-mash' of code requirements."
However, IECC, or any other building code for that matter, is not considered law until the individual states or jurisdictions adopt it. But it's still a good idea for you to become familiar with local codes, particularly when bidding a new construction project.
Reroofing is a different situation when adding extra insulation, especially on roofs that are laden with equipment. When you reroof a building and want to add 2 to 3 inches of insulation, you'll start running into situations where the parapet wall isn't high enough or the HVAC equipment needs to be put on stilts. This type of work can cost a lot more because of the ancillary work.
In situations such as these, you may hesitate to recommend extra insulation because you will be bid right out of the market. These types of situations, where adding insulation is not practical, can make a cool roof especially desirable.
In addition, the new LEED® version (v4) has, in some respects, changed its approach to cool roofing. The new LEED credit seeks to evaluate the entire building site. This means the entire property—not just the roof—is evaluated for reflectivity. For this reason, some areas typically paved in dark materials may seek alternatives, such as light-colored pavement, underground parking or increased tree cover. Also, highly reflective roofing materials can be used to increase the average site reflectivity, allowing the roof to be the "hero" if the other site options are not practical.
The Cool Roof Rating Council also is considering some changes within its technical committees. The overall effect is the requirements for cool roofs would remain the same with the following exceptions:
Choose the best solution
If you truly want to keep a property owner's best interests in mind, learn about specific demand charges in your area, share the information with your customers and suggest the most cost-effective solution. In many cases, the solution may include a cool roof system.
It's no myth that when demand charges are high, there really is an energy "sweet spot" where you can design a roof system with R-24 insulation using a reflective membrane and get roughly the same energy performance as an R-30 roof with dark-colored roofing. If R-24 meets code, why argue against adding another R-6 "free of charge" with a cool roof
Martin Grohman, LEED® AP BD+C, is executive director of sustainability for GAF, Wayne, N.J.
Calculating the savings
One thing almost everyone in the roofing industry can agree on is the cool roof calculators now in use are in need of reprogramming. The models generated by these calculators are limited; the results of their calculations can change significantly by forcing the user to apply certain inputs and exclude others. The calculators often are difficult to use and completely ignore the emergent issue of electricity demand charges.
In fact, the latest iteration of the Roof Savings Calculator is "currently undergoing revision and should not be used," according to Ronnen Levinson, Ph.D., staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
GAF is taking a different approach to developing a roof energy calculator. Its Cool Roof Energy Savings Tool (CREST) is a free self-service roof energy calculator and rebate finder. CREST eases the process of comparing multiple cool roof designs, varying levels of reflectivity and insulation.
The calculator was developed with Highland Park, Ill.-based GreenOhm, a technology firm that offers a rebate indexing service. CREST allows full user configurability as opposed to pre-defaulting to electric heat because electric heat is considered unusual in large buildings. Basing calculations on this sometimes-flawed assumption of electric heating use can lead to a bias that overweighs the effect of heating degree days.
Peak energy loading is important when modeling the effectiveness of cool roofing because peak electrical demand, which often occurs on the hottest days of the year, typically has a significant effect on energy costs for large-sized users. To address this, the model combines Oak Ridge National Laboratory's CoolCalcEnergy and CoolCalcPeak calculators in an easy-to-use app-style format.
The goal of CREST is to make a fair, unbiased comparison of roof system designs possible using the best models available. GAF plans to continue upgrading and improving the tool as additional calculators become available online.
For more information about GAF's CREST, click here.
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment. Please log in to leave a comment.