The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that, effective June 1, 2022, it has retired the Energy Star specification for roofing products. No more products will be certified under EPA Energy Star specification after that date.
The reason for retiring the standard, according to a press release, is a number of factors, including “EPA’s belief that the existence of robust standards in the commercial sector for efficient roofs made the specification obsolete.”
Facility managers looking for information about cool roofs and cool roofing products designed to meet specific standards are still able to consult the Cool Roof Rating Council’s (CRRC) standard and database of cool roofing products. CRRC’s database includes more than 3,000 roofing products. To be considered a cool roof, products must have high reflectance and emittance values.
Another cool roof resource for facility managers is the Department of Energy’s (DOE) cool roof calculator. Users can input certain specifications about their building, energy costs, and proposed cool roof, and find out how much savings roofs with various cool roof properties can bring them.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
