Marcus W. Crowell Business<br/>In a 2001 federal study, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) measured and calculated the reduction in peak energy demand associated with a cool roof’s surface reflectivity. LBNL found that, compared to the original black rubber roofing membrane on the Texas retail building studied, a retrofitted vinyl membrane delivered an average decrease of 24°C (43°F) in surface temperature, an 11 percent decrease in aggregate air conditioning energy consumption, and a corresponding 14 percent drop in peak hour demand.<br/><br/>No matter where cool roofs are installed, they cut down on the urban heat island effect, however they do not always lower a building’s carbon footprint. In climates where there are more heating days than cooling days, white reflective roofs are not typically a worthwhile investment in terms of energy efficiency or savings. The cooling benefits of a highly reflective roof surface do not outweigh the winter month heating benefits of a less reflective, or black, roof surface in cooler climates.<wbr/><br/><wbr/><br/>Comercial<wbr/>Roofing CRRC :The increasing complexity of construction projects creates the need for design professionals trained in all phases of the project's life-cycle and develop an appreciation of the building as an advanced technological system requiring close integration of many sub-systems and their individual components, including sustainability. Building engineering is an emerging discipline that attempts to meet this new challenge.<wbr/><br/><wbr/><br/>Marcus<wbr/>W. Crowell News<br/>There are some studies that have shown that reflective roofs are not always best in cool climates. Benchmark Inc. did a study in five different cities and used the energy star calculator and the DOE calculator to find the annual savings. Because the DOE calculator includes differences in heating losses, there were significant differences between the savings in all of the cities. However, in Chicago, the annual savings became slightly negative in one of the models because of heating costs.<wbr/><br/><wbr/><br/>Thus,<wbr/>the contracts must be designed