cool roof

The big transition in roofing history was from thatch to shingles to tiles, and the biggest question that we had to ask ourselves recently was what colour tiles we would have.

 But now there is another important question.  Do we have a conventional roof or a cool roof?   A standard roof is often made from materials that absorb heat.  For this reason the NSW government is planning to ban dark-coloured roofing .  What we want is roofing that reflects heat away from the house.

 The benefits of this are that the house is cooler, by up to 10°C during a heatwave.  Sydney’s ambient temperature could be reduced by 2.4°C if the whole city got rid of dark roofing. This is noticeable.  The next flow-on benefit is that we need less air-conditioning. This is important as we face a world that is heating up and requiring us to take measures to stay cool in summer.   And this, in turn, feeds into the strategy for the reduction of emissions.