Roofing has recently become more colorful in many ways. For the last 25 years, there have been many new choices concerning roofing, and more are added each year. As those trends continue, there are also a number of new initiatives that take the focus off the primary objective concerning roofing for commercial buildings. While I am currently president at RCI Inc., the content of this article is simply my opinion, and not necessarily the opinion of RCI Inc. members. More information is available at www.rci-online.org. While you’re visiting that site, the RCI technical articles library contains a number of peer-reviewed articles on this topic for further study.

Recently, many studies, mandates, regulations, and recommendations have been offered that speak to the virtues of white reflective, dark, and even stone-covered roof surfaces. The U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR^® for roofing, as it first began, met my approval. The EPA has done a fine job to date with that program. All of the studies since then have merit, but some serve a specific purpose. One feature offered by highly reflective roof surfaces is the reduction of roof-surface temperatures, which does impact the urban heat island effect. Most of the other roof surfaces can’t offer that environmental benefit.

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