Roof Color For Solar Gin

Surface color solar gain.

Roof color for solar gin.

One might think that benefits solar gain in a heating climate at least when the roof is not snow covered. Environmental protection agency epa says that for low rise commercial buildings the heat gain through the roof is about 50 percent of the heat gain for the entire building. Brown shingles would work with beige siding a mild contrast or with white a more distinct contrast. Painting walls a lighter color and using reflective windows can help to deflect some heat but the most important element is the roof.

The solar radiation amount depends on the orientation of the surface solar altitude angle and solar azimuth. As an additional note light colored walls extend the life of siding especially on the sides that face the sun south east and west. In summary here are the roof factors that affect your home solar panel performance. Cool roof coatings are white or special reflective pigments that reflect sunlight.

It depends on the properties of wall and roof structure outside surface material and color and solar radiation intensity component perpendicular to the outside surface. White is the greenest color the u s. It doesn t really matter whether you have a white black or red roof your home won t notice a significant difference. A dark brown roof would be boring with wood siding stained dark.

Funnily enough roof color has little effect on heat absorption. Coatings are like very thick paints that can protect the roof surface from ultra violet uv light and chemical damage and some offer water protection and restorative features. There are many types of roof systems available but the surface exposed to the sun is the one that determines if a roof is cool or not. But the same study found that the black roofs also loste heat faster than the white roofs more or less evening the score at least when measuring sheathing temperature changes.

First the roof color should be dissimilar enough to provide contrast. South is best west works well too and a mix is ok too. This outside surface temperature is called sol air temperature. Light colored surfaces reflect the radiant energy from the sun whereas dark surfaces can absorb this heat and then transfer it into a building.

If your building location is in a hot zone and you need to keep it cool in the summer then one of the best roof panel options is to go with the solar white panel. The amount of energy each solar panel produces will be directly reduced by the amount of shade covering each panel so less shade is always better. You can usually make a new or existing roof cool by selecting the appropriate surface.