A “cool roof” can reduce the temperature within and outside of a house and reduce the cooling costs for entire municipalities and cities.
Seattle –
While big cities in the United States take “cool roof” standards for combating increasing urban temperatures, the northwest Pacific has not yet implemented guidelines that could reduce local temperatures and a woman tries to change this.
Studies show that lighter roofing materials reflect more sunlight compared to dark surfaces that absorb more warmth and help to call scientists an urban heat island.
Katie Kaku is the leading technical director of global warmer dissements and tries to raise awareness of this process and to promote a sensible change in the northwest of Pacific.
“We all know that we have all experienced black asphalt on hot summer days and we know that it is hot. And that is because it absorbs the incoming sunlight and does it again as heat,” said Kaku.
Due to their built environments up to 15 degrees, cities can be hotter than surrounding rural areas, a phenomenon that is known as a urban heat effect.
Katie uses Seattle Quarter as an example.
“You can see the temperature differences from neighborhood to neighborhood. A city with many trees on the water such as Ballard or Magnolia, they find that on a hot summer day, when this temperature hits 80 degrees, an area such as pension or Auburn or Kent in industrial corridor that has fewer trees, and much more black areas, these regions have 11 degrees.
A “cool roof” can reduce the temperature within and outside of a house and reduce the cooling costs for entire municipalities and cities.
Studies by the environmental protection authority show whether “cool roof” standards are implemented, the temperature in a house can be reduced between about 2 to 6 degrees.
While many big cities, including Los Angeles and New York, have cool roof standards for flat (typically industrial) roofs, Atlanta passed a bold urban regulation in June 2025, which requires all roofs, both industry and residential buildings.
The urban temperature in Atlanta is expected to be 2.4 to 6.3 degrees lower due to these changes.
Since the summer in the northwest of Pacific gets hotter, Katie would like to see similar standards or guidance of officials.
“According to my knowledge, neither Washington nor Oregon cool cool roof regulations or guidelines in their construction code,” she said.
The Cool Roof Rating Council is a non -profit organization that aims to bring information about cool surfaces to critical discussions, and when he was asked about cool roof standards in the PNW, a spokesman said:
“The Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard (ESDS), which includes the building performance standard for affordable housing construction projects financed as part of the Washington State Housing Trust Find. As part of its credit loan for Heat Island reduction. Island Mitiziziions programs such as Leed roofs are included.
Katie believes that the only con into a brighter roof would be aesthetics.
We asked the roofer expert Mike Tappert, who has the Upper West Exteriors.
“Black is the most popular, I think because of the aesthetics,” said Tappert and added if someone wanted to choose a light roof, “are generally all within a few dollars.”
He said that the simple selection of a lighter shingle in the northwest would help reduce the temperature of your house and its community, but an even more powerful “cool roof track” was developed and is sold in warmer climate zones, which can double this temperature effects.
“It is a logical conclusion when you wear a black T-shirt and feel warmer than to wear a beautiful bright white t-shirt in the sun.
Owens Corning, the company that produces the cool roof single, could transport to the northwest. There may be a shipping fee or a slight delay for shipping.
Tappert said the only fraudster who uses these cool roof shingles in the northwest is that these shingles that do not have a built -in algae resistance that most shingles sell in Washington, and that would be the only trade for the cool roof shingles.
However, he said that the algae -resistant shingles have lighter colors that would be an advantage for lower temperatures.
For Kaku, the solution is that both homeowners are able to choose lighter colors when repeating a roof or building a new home and asking the city guides to issue instructions.
“By changing the color selection slightly, we can carry out sensible measures and address urban heat island effects and reduce the temperatures of cities by up to 2 degrees,” she said. “This is a change that we can now implement. If we simply prescribe more reflective surfaces, higher albedo building materials, we can now take sensible measures.”