I recently had the chance to speak to Dr. George K. Criner, Director of the School of Economics at the University of Maine, along with doctoral candidate Travis Blackmer.  They study waste issues (and have had the pleasure of sorting many thousands of bags of household & office trash).  Dr. Criner said that the K-Cup is a perfect example of how the modern waste stream is getting more complex.  The single serve convenience of the K-Cup is hard to beat, but the recyclability is low.  And there’s a lot of packaging per serving.  In fact, in a quick study performed by Blackmer, the coffee to packaging ratio, by weight, of a bag of ground coffee is about 16:1.  A red tub of coffee like you’re familiar with, is about 8:1.  A K-Cup is about 1.4 to 1 – the amount of packaging is almost the same as the amount of coffee – and of course it only makes one cup.

One thing that we are trying now in our Wayne, New Jersey headquarters is the Grounds to Grow On K-Cup recycling program.  With this system, you receive pre-paid mailback packages to collect K-Cups.  Recycling is a volume game – almost anything is recycling, if you can get enough of it in one place – and this program allows Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to collect a large volume of used K-Cups, separate the portion pack components, compost the coffee, and burn the plastic in a waste-to-energy facility.  This is not as simple as recycling shingles (people often say that shingles, ground and ready to be added to hot mix pavement, look like coffee grounds) but is certainly progress.

Do you use K-Cups?  Have you found a good way to recycle them?

When I became a part of the roofing industry and began working with our GAF Gardenscapes line, of course the first thing I asked - as many do - was “What grows on a garden roof?”.  (The other most frequently asked question is “Will it leak?” which I cover in this blog ).  The plants that are selected for a garden roof vary by region, but they generally consist of plants that are well suited to extremes of temperature and exposure, and are often low growing.  Broadly speaking: things that grow on cliffs are good for roofs.

With my fairly steeply pitched residential roof with conventional asphalt shingle construction (and the fact that my wife doesn’t always share my passion for using the house to test everything), I don’t have the right structure to convert to a garden roof.  However, I wanted to try growing some of the plants.  Where I live in Maine, I do have some fairly rooflike areas to plant, with extremes of temperature and sun exposure.  So I am creating a small plot in my yard, as a kind of a test.

To get started, I built a small platform in my yard, then I called David Gilmore of Etera, a specialist in vegetative roofing horticulture, to ask for tips on selecting the species that would be most suited for my area.  Here is what David suggested  (the common name is followed by the Latin name):

Kinnikinnick or Bear Berry: Arctostaphylos uva –ursi
Blue Fescue: Festuca ovina glauca
Sea Thrift: Armeria maritime
and an assortment of low growing sedums, the real workhorse  of garden roofing: Sedum spurium, John Creech, Red Carpet, Fudliglut, Dragons Blood, Sedum album, Sedum sexangulare, Sedum acre

As I prepare the plot, complete with drainage mat and a simulated roof assembly, I’ll post pictures and update my progress!

Generally there are many positive developments in the updated rating system but the roofing industry in general can always do more the be involved in the process.

There are 7 rating systems, you can't comment on them all; so start with Homes if you're residential and Building Design & Construction and Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance if you're residential.  Download the 'clean' version and search for keywords like roof, solar, and reflectivity to make sure you're opinion is heard in these key sections during this rare opportunity!   

1.  Zero everything:  zero waste plants, zero net energy buildings, zero waste construction, zero down solar financing.
2. Existing Buildings More Important: The LEED Rating System, that compares the ‘green-ness’ of buildings, keeps growing, and is now in use in 161 countries.  Of the types of buildings rated (homes, schools, new construction, etc), LEED for Existing Buildings is now the #1 rating system.  That means more Existing Buildings are choosing to get rated than any other type.
3. New Codes:  The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) will get adopted by more municipalities.  It’s aimed at commercial buildings, and when it gets adopted, it applies to both existing and new construction.
4. Increased importance of water issues:  we’re not hearing Zero Net Water Use buildings yet, but that’s where things will probably head.

Hidden in these trends continues to be a great opportunity for roofing contractors – because renewable energy and rainwater reclaim typically go on the roof; because Existing Buildings need something called Commissioning to be eligible for LEED rating, and commissioning involves a full roof inspection and maintenance plan; and because the IgCC will drive business for recyclable and reflective materials, as well as energy conservation, plus a ‘Building Service Life Plan’, in which proper roof design and maintenance are critical.

Readers of Marty’s blog know that GAF takes these challenges seriously—and have seen the steps that Marty has taken to keep sustainability important in everything we do at GAF (I particularly like the addition of the Fuelly to his truck).  GAF certainly eliminates waste and energy use in everything we do and I am sure that most of the roofing contractors and distributors we work with do the same. 

The new thing we all have to do is to teach.  We have seen how important it is for the roofing industry to take the lead in teaching our customers how roofing has an important is in sustainable design.  Last year, GAF launched an innovative partnership with the CMRA to help contractors find local shingle recyclers.  During our recent sales meeting, we launched several programs that will help contractors and distributors talk to their customers about sustainability and to make their own businesses more sustainable.  We encourage the industry to talk about the topics I mentioned above, or some of the other topics covered in Marty’s blog (like energy audits) and to work with the right partners in your area to help tell the roofing story.  This year we will be talking about more programs and alliances, as well as experimenting with new sustainability tools.  Are there groups in your area that help you tell the sustainability story, or questions that homeowners and building owners ask about roofing that are hard to answer?  Let us know.  It is up to all of us to make sure that people know how significant roofing is to sustainable building.

[Thanks for the interesting post, Tony  - Marty]

But the Prius does not start out the trip with a precharged battery, so it does use gas to start the trip.  And I have long been interested in finding a way to pursue even higher mileage.  So I took the plunge and had a plug-in conversion done on my 2004 Prius.  The 4kW unit is from Plug-In Supply, and cost in the many thousands of dollars, with a 6 month lead time.  I’ve been testing it for a couple of weeks now, and have seen an improvement in mileage of about 15% - good, but not as much as I had hoped.  The advertised  range is 20-30 miles per charge, which I have yet to see.   I’ll keep readers of this blog up to date on my progress as I do look for some improvement as we get the system ‘tuned up’. 

But in the meantime, the top jokes about my new system come from Back to the Future :

 “Don’t exceed 88 mph, or you’ll travel through time”.

“Are those the Flux Capacitors?”

“Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine.”

And of course, any good Marty McFly joke!  Especially since I have been wearing a down vest. 

Cool roofing products are classified, in many cases, by their Solar Reflectance Index (SRI). 

So, just what is SRI?   Essentially, it is a way to estimate how hot something will get in the sun.  It’s the combination of two measurements: how reflective the item is, plus its emissivity – or how effectively it rejects heat.   Higher numbers mean materials that heat up less in the sun.

SRI is given on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher numbers meaning cooler surfaces.  Lighter colors will generally have a higher SRI.  However, color is not always a reliable indicator of solar reflectance, because visible light only represents 47% of the energy in the solar spectrum – a full 50% of the spectrum is infrared (ASHRAE 2005).  That is why products like Timberline Cool Series can achieve high SRI even though they do not appear white to the human eye.

Codes (such as California’s Title 24) and Rating Systems (such as the Cool Roof Rating Council, and LEED®) are helping to drive the adoption of cool roofing products.  Generally, codes and rating systems call for SRI’s of 29 and above for steep slope roofing, and 78 and above for low slope roofing.  GAF has a wide range of low slope roofing products in the asphaltic, membrane, and roof coating categories that have SRI’s over 78 – visit our cool roofing page to see them.

An interesting factoid is that another three-letter abbreviation we all know, SPF, for sunscreen, refers only to the ability to block UV light.  UV light is only about 3% of the energy in the spectrum; SRI is based on the entire range.

My co-panelist, Timothy Bent of Bridgestone Americas, gave an excellent presentation on tire recycling, and the progress that has been made in that industry.   Although the challenges are different, there is a lot we can learn from the progress that has been made in tire recycling.  The tire recycling industry does have some things working in its favor, not least of which is that you will generally drive on your old tires to go get your new ones, which makes collection easier.

However, that doesn’t mean the tires are automatically recycled – the industry, and consumers, have had to work hard to make that happen.  The good news is, not unlike asphalt shingles, used tires do have value, and as the systems around recycling tires continue to improve, collection has become more routine.  Recovery rates have increased steadily.  There were an estimated 3 billion tires in piles in the US in 1992, and the recovery rate was less than 10%.  The recovery rate is more than 80% today.  Old tires are used as fuel, as mulch, and in highway projects, and in fact, some areas of the country have a achieved close to 100% recovery rates.  By contrast, there are approximately 10 million tons of post-consumer shingles generated every year, and 550 million tons of paving put down.  Recycled asphalt shingles are generally agreed to improve the properties of roads, and with shingles added at paving at the typical five percent, recycling 100% of post-consumer shingles into pavement should theoretically be possible.

Find a contractor that recycles by visiting our contractor locator and looking for the Certified Green Roofer logo.

The BOMA 360 Performance Program recognizes excellence in building operations and management.  More than 300 buildings have obtained the designation.  The Program benchmarks a building’s performance against industry standards, and evaluates six major areas of building operations and management, including security, building management, education, sustainability, tenant relations, and energy usage.  One of the best ways for an existing building to improve energy performance is to focus on the energy efficiency of the exterior building envelope; and the roof is often the most important part of that envelope, particularly for commercial structures. 

GAF can help connect building owners and managers with leading roofing professionals, in order to evaluate the solutions that are best for their property.  Best practices in improving roofing energy efficiency include an ongoing roof maintenance program; air and/or vapor barriers as appropriate to the structure; improved insulation; and of course cool roofing. 

In addition to improving building operations, recognition from the highly regarded, national Building Owners and Managers Association can be a powerful tool in attracting tenants.  That’s probably the reason that there are already over 300 BOMA 360 properties—and the number seems to be growing every week.  Have you worked on a BOMA 360 property?  Have you heard property owners and managers talking about the program?

You can learn more about how an audit is done here, but suffice it to say it’s a surprisingly technical process, taking about four hours.  The outcome of my audit was a 30-page report, complete with infrared pictures of problem areas, and a full software model of the homes energy performance.  This model was run in a few different scenarios to show which improvements would have the most ‘bang for the buck’.  For my house, these were:

• BASEMENT INSULATION: insulating all basement walls (framed and foundation) and rim joists
• ALL ATTICS: re-insulating all attic areas (with the exception of the "Attic Voids" above the propane stove and the bay window)

You don’t get a score in an Energy Audit, but even though my home is fairly new, built in 2004 by a conscientious, professional builder, it did surprise me that it showed so much air leakage and so much of it ‘low hanging fruit’ (simple air sealing around the bath fans, the band joists in the basement) etc.  Even though my house is well insulated, with 16”+ in the attic, most conventional insulation is ineffective if air can move freely through it.   Also, using the infrared camera, it became clear that there is significant ‘wind-wash’ around the rafter vents (soffit vents).  This is air that should be moving up toward the ridge vent and not finding its way into the house.   It is something to look out for when you install these vents.
Cold Air Leaking in Around Rafter Vents and Band Joists; Warm Air Leaking from Attic around Bath Fan  

Improved air sealing is something almost every home needs, and often the best way to get at that job is in the attic.  An ideal time to undertake this project is during a roof replacement.  Of course, as a professional roofing contractor, you inspect a lot of attics and already know about proper ventilation.  So adding air sealing and inspection services may be of interest to some of your clients. 

Are any professional roofing contractors out there performing home energy audits?  Have you done attic insulation checks, improved attic air barriers, or added blown-in insulation?  If you’ve looked into or even performed energy audits for your clients or your own home, I’d love to hear more about it.