More from the Intermountain Summit – CQR’s “Sustainability & Roofing” White Paper, March 2015

Download our Sustainability & Roofing March 2015 white paper.

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Earlier this month, Clark’s Quality Roofing attended the Intermountain Sustainability Summit at Weber University.  The conference was a place for businesses around the region to join, attend workshops, and meet vendors who have something to offer related to the important question of how to grow our communities, businesses, and homes in a sustainable way.  (To learn more, check out the Sustainability videos featuring this year’s speakers on the event’s YouTube channel.)

Good for the environment, good for business.

CQR is a leader in installing high-performance, single-ply membrane roofs. We’ve put together a white paper documenting the issue of sustainability and why roofing decisions can impact this complex issue.  For instance, did you know that black, heat absorbing roof materials contribute to the “urban heat island” effect that urban centers are experiencing?

We like to say “‘white’ is the new green” when it comes to roofing. Installing a “cool” white roof of PVC (or TPO) can dramatically decrease the amount of the sun’s heat that your building retains.  This helps reduce the “urban heat island” effect and its consequences (poor air quality, higher temperatures during the warmer months of the year, etc.) while lowering a building’s consumption of energy for air-conditioning during the warm months.   As an example: Clark’s Quality Roofing installed the white TPO roof on Utah’s Salt Palace Convention Center in 2011.  In 2010, temperatures of the black roof in July averaged 180 degrees.  One year later, in 2011 after the installation of white, reflective TPO, temperatures averaged 73 degrees cooler.

What’s more, in the case of PVC membrane, the material is not only reflective it is both long-lasting and highly recyclable.  The latter two factors greatly reduce the amount of roofing debris that contributes to overly stressed landfills. Finally, that same reflective “cool” white roof can enhance the effectiveness of bi-facial solar panels.