{"id":451,"date":"2014-01-08T21:39:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T02:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2014-01-08T21:39:52","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T02:39:52","slug":"reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

All of us get misled by catch-phrases, like \u201cSave the Planet\u201d or \u201cGlobal Warming\u201d or \u201cClimate Change\u201d. Although phrases like these are well intended, they can be misleading; they really are off topic. Something like \u201cSave the Humans\u201d is more to the point and truly the root of the entire sustainability movement. Let\u2019s face it: The efforts to be more green are inherently aimed at a healthier you and me, as well as our children\u2019s and grandchildren\u2019s desire for continued healthful lives and opportunities.<\/p>\n

The discussion about green and sustainability needs some context to make it real and effectual. The question to ask is: How does green construction help humans live a healthier and happier life? The answer is: It is because of the co-benefits of building (and living) in a more environmentally appropriate way.<\/p>\n

One key component of building environmentally appropriate buildings is that, collectively, we use less energy. Less energy use means no need to build another power plant that creates electricity while spewing pollution into the air. Less pollution in the air means people are healthier. It also means the water and soil are less polluted. We drink that water and eat what grows in the ground. We also eat \u201cstuff\u201d from the rivers, lakes and oceans. Healthier people means reduced costs for health care. Reduced sickness means fewer sick days at the office, and fewer sick days means more productivity by employees. And, dare I say, happier employees are all because of the environmentally appropriate building, or a \u201chuman appropriate\u201d building.<\/p>\n

So what does all this have to do with roofs? Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure. Building owners and facility managers should always include energy- efficiency components in their roof system designs. There are few opportunities to improve the building envelope; reroofing is one of those opportunities, and it shouldn\u2019t be missed.<\/p>\n

According to the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing<\/a>, Washington, D.C., and building envelope research firm Tegnos Inc.<\/a>, Carmel, Ind., roof systems have the potential to save 700-plus trillion Btus in annual energy use. Too many roofs are not insulated to current code-required levels. If our rooftops were better insulated, these energy-saving estimates would become reality. Imagine the co-benefits of such a significant reduction in energy use!<\/p>\n

But how do we know we\u2019re doing the right thing? RoofPoint<\/a> and the RoofPoint Carbon Calculator will help. The RoofPoint Carbon Calculator<\/a> uses seven inputs to compare an energy-efficient roof with a baseline roof: insulation, thermal performance, air barrier, roof surface, rooftop PV, solar thermal and roof daylighting. The outputs from the RoofPoint Carbon Calculator are total roof energy use, energy savings due to the energy- efficient roof design, energy savings during peak demand, and CO2 offset for the energy-efficient roof design. This can be used to compare an existing roof (the baseline roof) to a new roof design (the energy-efficient roof), and this will help verify the energy savings and reduction of carbon output. It\u2019s an excellent tool for verifying how green a new roof can be.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just take my word on this co-benefits idea. The Economist<\/em> recently published a blog<\/a> about the EPA and rulings on interstate pollution. The article cited a claim that by 2014\u2014if pollution rates were half of those in 2005\u2014hundreds of thousands of asthma cases each year could be prevented and nearly 2 million work and school days lost to respiratory illness could be eliminated. And just think, improving your roof\u2019s energy efficiency is key to the reduction of power-plant use and the pollution that comes from them. So, yes, a roof can help your kids and your grandkids be healthy and happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All of us get misled by catch-phrases, like \u201cSave the Planet\u201d or \u201cGlobal Warming\u201d or \u201cClimate Change\u201d. Although phrases like these are well intended, they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26,30],"tags":[205,343,342,98,344],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nReroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roofing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoofingMagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"792\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James R. Kirby, AIA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@roofingmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@roofingmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James R. Kirby, AIA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James R. Kirby, AIA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c060916b3a3ccafde9ecf7a75e979bf1\"},\"headline\":\"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\"},\"wordCount\":641,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"energy efficiency\",\"environment\",\"reroofing\",\"roofpoint\",\"RoofPoint Carbon Calculator\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Columns\",\"On My Mind\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\",\"name\":\"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/\",\"name\":\"Roofing\",\"description\":\"The Industry's Voice\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"roofingmag\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png\",\"width\":792,\"height\":612,\"caption\":\"roofingmag\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoofingMagazine\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/roofingmag\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCiQaGR5PJpHPDhfoKBqJBAA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c060916b3a3ccafde9ecf7a75e979bf1\",\"name\":\"James R. Kirby, AIA\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a5b6ef8acedd9feb6bbfe12ede70a0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a5b6ef8acedd9feb6bbfe12ede70a0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James R. Kirby, AIA\"},\"description\":\"James R. Kirby, AIA, is director of Codes and Regulatory Affairs for the Kellen Co. He is a licensed architect in Illinois and has a Master of Architecture\u2014Structures Option and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois. Kirby also has a Graduate Certification in Sustainable Building Design and Construction from Boston Architectural College. Kirby has expertise in roof system design and construction, weatherproofing and energy-efficiency of the building envelope, as well as rooftop PV systems. He also is an accredited Green Roofing Professional. Kirby has a strong combination of association experience, as well as roofing expertise, which help serve the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) and the Roof Coating Manufacturers Association (RCMA), among others.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/author\/james-r-kirby\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing","description":"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing","og_description":"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.","og_url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/","og_site_name":"Roofing","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoofingMagazine\/","article_published_time":"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":792,"height":612,"url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"James R. Kirby, AIA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@roofingmag","twitter_site":"@roofingmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James R. Kirby, AIA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/"},"author":{"name":"James R. Kirby, AIA","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c060916b3a3ccafde9ecf7a75e979bf1"},"headline":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment","datePublished":"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/"},"wordCount":641,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["energy efficiency","environment","reroofing","roofpoint","RoofPoint Carbon Calculator"],"articleSection":["Columns","On My Mind"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2014","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/","url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/","name":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment - Roofing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-09T02:39:05+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-09T02:39:52+00:00","description":"Rooftops, because they are a significant percentage of the building envelope, should not be overlooked as an important and truly significant energy-efficiency measure.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/reroofing-one-opportunities-improve-built-environment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reroofing Is One of the Few Opportunities to Improve the Built Environment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/","name":"Roofing","description":"The Industry's Voice","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#organization","name":"roofingmag","url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RoofingLogo1-1.png","width":792,"height":612,"caption":"roofingmag"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoofingMagazine\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/roofingmag","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCiQaGR5PJpHPDhfoKBqJBAA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c060916b3a3ccafde9ecf7a75e979bf1","name":"James R. Kirby, AIA","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a5b6ef8acedd9feb6bbfe12ede70a0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a5b6ef8acedd9feb6bbfe12ede70a0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James R. Kirby, AIA"},"description":"James R. Kirby, AIA, is director of Codes and Regulatory Affairs for the Kellen Co. He is a licensed architect in Illinois and has a Master of Architecture\u2014Structures Option and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois. Kirby also has a Graduate Certification in Sustainable Building Design and Construction from Boston Architectural College. Kirby has expertise in roof system design and construction, weatherproofing and energy-efficiency of the building envelope, as well as rooftop PV systems. He also is an accredited Green Roofing Professional. Kirby has a strong combination of association experience, as well as roofing expertise, which help serve the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) and the Roof Coating Manufacturers Association (RCMA), among others.","url":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/author\/james-r-kirby\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7yG4I-7h","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}