It started with the stadium of pressure groups.
Tennesse Rusty Grills actor says that pressure groups have suggested a simple idea: canceling the state’s requirements for reflecting on many commercial buildings.
In late March, the grills and legislative colleagues voted to eliminate the base, cancel a procedure aimed at saving energy and low temperatures and protecting Tennessee from severe heat.
Showed, a Republican, said that he shed light on that he presented the bill to give consumers more options.
It was another victory for an organized pressure campaign led by the manufacturers of dark roofing materials.
Industry representatives have launched a required correction in Tennessee as more state moved to a more hot climate area, which expands the country’s cold base. Critics called it dangerous and “deceptive”.
“The new law will lead to high energy costs and increase diseases and heat -related deaths,” state representative Harold Loew and Reverend John Robinson said in a statement.
Critics warned that Nashville, Mumfais and other more hotter cities – especially in the disadvantaged black and Latin societies, are struggling to pay their utilities bills. It played similar pressure in Denver, Baltimore and at the national level.
Industry groups questioned the flag that exceeds contracts behind cold surfaces, reduced the benefits and warned of low choice and unintended consequences. “The approach that suits everyone is considered the climate contrast in different regions,” wrote Eileen Thorp, Executive Director of the EPDM Raug Association, a national group based in the capital, representing an industry that was built primarily on dark materials.
But the weight of scientific evidence is clear: on hot days, light -colored surfaces can remain more than 50 degrees cooler than that dark, which helps to reduce energy use, curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce heat -related diseases and deaths. one A recent study I found that reflective surfaces could save the lives of more than 240 people who died in the Hitor 2018 wave in London.
I adopted at least eight states-and more than ten cities in other states-cold-resistant requirements, according to what he said. Smart Scatal AllianceA national group of general and environmental health groups that enhance reflective ceilings, trees and other solutions to make cities healthier.
Industry representatives have been successfully pressed in recent months against the expansion of the wonderful ceiling recommendations in the symbols of national professional energy efficiency – the criteria used by many cities and countries to set construction regulations.
High risks. With high global temperatures and waves heating It grows more deadlyThe surfaces above our heads have become battlefields in a subordinate climate war. This happens as the Trump and Congress administration Go to decline Methods designed to make devices and buildings more efficient in using energy.
Why the roof color is important
The principle is simple: light -colored surfaces reflect the sun, so the buildings remain cooler. Dark heat absorbs, raises temperatures inside the buildings and in the surrounding air.
The researchers say the surfaces consist of a quarter of the surface area in the major American cities, and thus the color of the surfaces can make a big difference in urban areas.
How can you get dark surfaces?
“You can burn your hands physically on these surfaces.
After the study, the study confirmed the benefits of light -colored surfaces. It saves energy, low air conditioning bills and reduces city temperatures. It helps prevent heat -related diseases. It usually costs more than dark surfaces.
A Ticket By the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy, it was found that the cold roof was in a house in central California and fled by 20 % of the annual energy costs.
On a three -storey house in Baltimore, Owen Henry discovered what the cold ceiling can make.
Living in part of the city with some trees-and the summer temperatures often go up to the nineties-Henry wanted to trim power bills and stay cooler while working in his office on the third floor. So in 2023, he used $ 100 of white reflector ceiling coating to wrap its roof.
Henry said that he and his wife immediately saw the decrease in the internal temperature. They reduced the use of electricity – by 24 %.
Cold surfaces, hot discussion
Black artificial rubber known as EPDM is known and is famous for its durability, and it dominates commercial roofing. But in recent years, it has been overlooked by TPO, which is a single -layer plastic material that is usually white and is more suitable for meeting the increasing demand for reflective surfaces.
The leading EPDM manufacturers – including Johns Manville, Carlisle Syntec and Elevate, a section of Swiss multinational Holcim – manufactures reflective roofing materials. But they fought the regulations threatening to increase their market share.
In an e -mail response to light questions, Thorp argued that many studies mentioned to support cold roof delegations leave important factors, such as local climate differences, ceiling type, tree canopy and insulation thickness.
She referred to a A recent study By Harvard University researchers who concluded that the surfaces and white sidewalks may reduce rainfall, causing temperatures unexpectedly increased in the surrounding areas.
But Haider Taha, the leading urban temperature expert, identified the defects in Harvard’s study, saying: “The study’s conclusions fail to provide implemented visions of urban cooling strategies or policy -making.”
Fight on cold surfaces in Baltimore
When a cold roof decree discussed in 2022, the Thorp group and the Arma Raugules Association (ARMA) was strongly pressed, on the pretext that the dark surfaces are the most efficient option in “Northern Climates like Baltimore”.
In cold climates, industry representatives note that cold surfaces can lead to heating bills in winter.
“The current research does not support the adoption of cold surfaces as a measure that would improve energy efficiency or a decrease in the urban heat island,” Thorpe wrote in a letter to a member of the council.
Multiple studies show otherwise. They concluded that the reflective surfaces provide energy and cool the cities by reducing the “urban heat effect” – the additional heat that besieged in many city neighborhoods because buildings and sidewalk absorb the sun.
The researchers also found that even in most of the cold North American climates, saving energy from cold surfaces during the warmer months exceeds any additional heating costs in the winter.
Despite the opposition, Baltimore A Cold resistant decree In 2023.
Exhibitions of wonderful roof requirements such as Baltimore say they exaggerate in dividing a complex issue. In an e -mail to light, ARMA CEO Red Hitchcock said these rules are not a “magic bullet”. Encourage the regulators to consider the “complete construction approach” – an approach that weighs insulation, shading and climate in addition to the roof color to maintain the flexibility of the design and the choice of the consumer.
Henry, the owner of Baltimore, said he believed the city law would help all the population. “Foy is for any manufacturer you will try to prevent us from maintaining our society and making it a fun place to live in,” he said.
Industry on its way in Denver and Tennessee
Elsewhere, the pressure groups in the industry achieved victories. They successfully pressed the cold roof decree in Denver and to prevent strict standards by the American Association of Heating, Refunction and Air Air Conditioning Engineers-a professional organization that creates model standards for city and state regulations.
The current ASHRAE standard recommends reflective surfaces on commercial buildings in American climatic areas 1, 2 and 3 – the most important areas in the country. These include most of the south, Hawaii, almost all Texas, areas along the Mexican border and most California.
Thorpe said in a hadith interview“We were able to stop all these … stipulates crawling to the Climate area 4 and 5.”
Another group headed by Thorp – An alliance for sustainable roofing I worked with pressure groups to propose a draft law, which canceled the requirements of Tennessee with a code.
This rule once applies to commercial buildings in only 14 of 95 provinces in the state, but an update for climate maps in 2021 expanded the requirements to 20 other provinces, including the most populated urban areas – Nashville.
With the height of the mercury, the home owner chooses a reflective roof
Brian Spere, the owner of a house in Timby, Arizona, has lived in the Phoenix region since the 1980s, when there was less than 30 days a year when the temperature reached 110f. Last year, there were 70 of those days – the highest ever – followed only in 2023, when there were 55 days of 110f Plus.
These days, the incendiary summer morning begins, as he says: “I feel that if I go outside between 10 am and 4 pm, this is dangerous.”
Speer says it will soon replace the Airbnb home of Airbnb. After weighing the usual fears – cost and beauty – choose a surface believed to help instead of harm: a gray metal ceiling with a reflector coating.
“If someone tells me that you cannot put a dark ceiling on your home … I will understand,” he said. “I am everything about it for the sake of the public good.”
