ERA Recommends Updated Approach to Mitigate Urban Heat Island Impact
The EPDM Roofing Association (ERA) is recommending that Federal, state and local governments, as well as regulatory bodies, pause the development and implementation of reflective roofing and cool roofing mandates. This recommendation from ERA is based on the findings of two studies funded by the Association which attempted to measure the efficacy of reflective or “cool” roofing as a mitigation strategy against the Urban Heat Island effect, or UHI. These studies showed that complex and inconsistent temperature assessment protocols are being utilized in virtually all UHI evaluations, making comparisons of efficacy problematic.
“We need to develop a consistent way to measure the impact of reflective roofs, so that we can evaluate their efficacy compared to other mitigation strategies that are being used to lessen extreme heat in urban areas”, said Ellen Thorp, Executive Director of ERA. “Prudent building science requires us to call upon the Federal and state governments to conduct additional research to assess the real-world relative value of all proposed solutions that might diminish the impact of the challenge of UHI. “