Photovoltaic and Rooftop Safety August 08, 2017 With the solar industry rapidly expanding, novices are entering the industry, solar projects are becoming costcompetitive, and installation schedules are hurried. The concept of safety is sometimes overlooked. Health and safety hazards do exist—especially during installation. Safety is never optional, and it is the law. When safety standards are enforced, it benefits the workers, the […] Read More
Cool Roofs on the West Coast: Has Roofing Science Been up to the Task? May 08, 2017 “Cool” single-ply membranes with highly reflective surfaces have come to represent over 50% of the commercial roofing market. Each year, well over 1.5 billion square feet of these white membranes are installed. However, as with many changes, there have been concerns about unintended consequences associated with this large shift. For example, in northern regions, condensation […] Read More
Roofing Trends March 08, 2017 Since the turn of the century, there have been many changes in the low-slope roofing industry. What has occurred? What is causing it? How has the roofing industry responded? What are the driving factors? And what is causing the roofing industry to transform so dramatically? There is no smoking gun that can account for the […] Read More
Climate-Responsive, Evidence-Based Green-Roof Design Decision Support for U.S. Climates January 08, 2017 ABSTRACT A number of trends have recently emerged in the areas of environmental building design and high-performance systems. However, in spite of many design and technical efforts to improve the performance using multiple building enclosure components— especially green roofs—the critical uncertainty of existing mechanisms, such as predefined computational modeling and design guidelines, has frequently resulted […] Read More
Top 10 Questions and Answers on Wind Performance on Modular Vegetated Roof Assemblies for Better Understanding of CAN/CSA A123.24 September 05, 2016 The National Research Council of Canada (NRCC), in collaboration with members of the Canadian roofing industry and vegetated system manufacturers, developed CAN/ CSA A123.24, Standard Test Method for Wind Resistance of Modular Vegetated Roof Assembly, to evaluate the wind resistance of vegetated roof assemblies (VRAs). The existing literature (NRCA,1 ANSI/SPRI-RP14,2 ANSI/ GRHC/SPRI VR-1,3 FEMA P-757,4 […] Read More
Cool Roofs in the North: Some Studies Suggest Condensation Under White Membranes in the North is Rare August 05, 2016 For the past 40 years, there has been continued growth of single-ply roofing. More recently, “cool” single-ply membranes with highly reflective surfaces have come to represent over 50% of the commercial roofing market. In fact, each year, well over 1.5 billion square feet of these white membranes are installed. However, with the advent of membranes […] Read More
Building Envelope Advancement Under the U.S. – China Clean Energy Research Center for Building Energy Efficiency August 05, 2016 The U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) was launched in 2009 by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang, and Chinese National Energy Agency Administrator Zhang Guobao.1 This fiveyear collaboration emerged from the fact that the United States and China are the world’s largest energy producers, energy consumers, and […] Read More
The Effects of Temperature on Insulation Performance: Considerations for Optimizing Wall and Roof Designs May 15, 2016 3 1 s t RC I I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n v e n t i o n a n d T r a d e S h ow • Ma rc h 1 0 – 1 5 , 2 0 1 6 S […] Read More
Roof Fasteners for Metal Deck Roofing Systems: Energy Impact on Re-Roofing and Recover Scenarios May 15, 2016 3 1 s t RC I I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n v e n t i o n a n d T r a d e S h ow • Ma rc h 1 0 – 1 5 , 2 0 1 6 G […] Read More
Do You Have Ants in Your Plants? A Review of Insect Attacks on EPDM Rubber Membranes March 05, 2016 EPDM must be viewed as a success story by any rational consideration of the facts. While there have been failures and instances of misuse, the decades of low-slope roofing market share in excess of 25% are indisputable.1 Roof technologists are sometimes called on to investigate problematic leakage, and identifying the correct source can be deceptive. […] Read More
