White Roof Reflects Heat

Products are available for most roof types.

White roof reflects heat.

Cool roof coatings are white or special reflective pigments that reflect sunlight. There are many small scale initiatives in cities to make roof surfaces more reflective. Reflective surfaces are a form of geoengineering. Volunteers have taken white paint to nearly 7 million square feet of tar roofs in the city though that is still only about 1 percent of the potential roof area.

Likewise a roof painted in whit will be cooler inside than that of a darker shade. Reflective surfaces can deliver high solar reflectance the ability to reflect the visible infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths of the sun reducing heat transfer to the surface and high thermal emittance the ability to radiate absorbed or non reflected solar energy. Coatings are like very thick paints that can protect the roof surface from ultra violet uv light and chemical damage and some offer water protection and restorative features. The outside and roof of a building soak up the heat from the sun but if they are made of materials and finishes in lighter or white colors this can minimize this solar absorption.

New york for instance introduced rules on white roofs into its building codes as long ago as 2012.