Ducker Reports on Sustainable Roofing Trends
Based on thousands of interviews with roofing stakeholders, Ducker Research discovered that sustainability and green design are driving important roofing industry market trends. Energy efficiency appears to be the single most important element of green, with high-R roofs and cool roofs leading the way, followed by vegetated and integrated solar roofing systems. However, industry education and outreach will be critical for green roofing systems to gain meaningful market penetration.
Green Real Estate: A Powerful New Asset Class
This presentation by Leanne Tobias of Malachite LLC provides an excellent overview of recent research suggesting that green buildings have a positive impact on real estate value, rents, occupancy rates, and turnover. Originally presented at the High Stakes Asset Intelligence Conference at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, May, 2008.
What's the Research behind the Campaign to "Paint the World White?"
In a wide-ranging discussion in May, 2009 at a three-day Nobel laureate Symposium in London, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested that painting roofs and roads white in urban environments may offset the global warming effects of all the cars in the world for 11 years. What's the science behind this assertion? Secretary Chu's remarks are based in part on a study conducted by Dr. Hashem Akbari of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories titled, "Global Cooling: Increasing Urban Albedos to Offset CO2."
EPA Issues Endangerment Finding for CO2
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled recently that CO2 and other greenhouse gasses pose an endangerment to the environment and should be classified as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This EPA ruling clears a path for CO2 regulation by the EPA independent of any new Congressional legislation.
Moisture: The Hidden Risk of Green Buildings (And Roofs)
"Yesterday’s seal of approval for new products was 'It was developed by NASA'. Today the seal of approval is: 'it’s LEED certified.' Just as 'NASA-developed' was no guarantee of success, neither is LEED-certified any assurance of no problems, especially those problems related to moisture accumulation." If you think this quote was made by a disgruntled roofing researcher, you'd be wrong! The quotation comes from a new monograph published by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). It would appear that leaders in the architectural community are becoming concerned about the hidden risk of moisture in sustainable construction.
Achieving Sustainability Through Durability, Adaptability and Deconstructability
Sustainable buildings (and roofs) must not only be designed to reduce the environmental impacts of construction and use. They must also be designed with the durability and adaptability to provide a long and useful service life of at least 50 years or more. In addition, they must be designed to be disassembled in a way that facilitates recycling and reuse. Dirk Kestner and Mark Webster, both Professional Engineers and LEED APs at Simpson Gumpertz & Hager have recently published an excellent overview of the key concepts of Design For Durability (DfDr), Design for Adaptability (DfA) and Design for Deconstruction (DfD).