Your roof’s primary requirement is to keep your commercial building watertight and protected from the elements. And if you choose Great Lakes Roofing and Insulation to install your new roofing system, you can be confident that we’ll make that happen. But beyond that, what other benefits can you expect to see from your investment? Here are a few possibilities.
White thermoplastic roofing systems are highly reflective and have a documented history of delivering energy savings on commercial facilities throughout North America. If you own or manage a warehouse, agricultural building, or another non-air-conditioned facility, a reflective roof can help create a cooler working environment and promote higher worker productivity.
Studies have shown that reflective roof membranes help preserve the life and effectiveness of underlying insulation by reflecting the IR and UV radiation than other roof types absorb. This benefit means that your insulation won’t degrade over time and will help your HVAC systems run more efficiently in all seasons.
Increasingly, building owners are taking more of a “good neighbor” approach with respect to community responsibility, and roofing can help accomplish that goal. The phenomenon is known as “urban heat islands” occurs on hot days when city temperatures go higher than those in surrounding rural areas. In addition to putting additional strain on power grids, UHIs foster the development of smog, a contributor to respiratory ailments. By reflecting solar heat back into the atmosphere, cool roofs help mitigate the UHI effect.
Also, building owners are beginning to generate their own power with rooftop solar systems. In some parts of the country, the cost of doing this is comparable to the cost of buying power from the utility company – a concept known as “grid parity.” If you’re in the market for rooftop solar, consider replacing your existing roof (possibly showing signs of age) with a new one. If your roof fails after the solar system is installed, replacing it will be a much more difficult and costly venture. The same principle applies to vegetative roof systems, also becoming more commonplace.
In all, there are several environmental benefits that you can expect by installing a new, highly reflective – and watertight – roofing system. Please call us at (906) 647-2916 for more details.
