The building industry still has much ground to cover when it comes to reducing its environmental impact.
Recent statistics revealed
that buildings are responsible for 40% of global carbon dioxide
emissions annually. Emissions from finished structures are one part of
the problem. Waste is another, and building construction and demolition
generates 600 million tons annually in the United States alone.
The
good news is that industry conversations around these topics are
already happening. Everyone from product manufacturers to the
architectural community to GCs is starting to make strides in
sustainability.
In the residential roofing industry, approximately 13 million tons
of asphalt shingles are landfilled in the United States annually;
contractors are starting to reckon with the scale of the waste problem.
Imagine enough shingle waste to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium five
times yearly, and you get the idea of what’s being buried in American
soil.
Caring about the environment is no longer just an ethical
issue for roofing contractors. There’s also a strong business case for
getting educated about sustainability efforts in the industry: it
matters to your customers.
In one recent study commissioned by
Saint-Gobain, 63% of contractors say they are often asked about
sustainable disposal practices.
With a rise in public
consciousness about how individual purchasing decisions impact the
planet, homeowners are especially educating themselves on purchases of
everyday home improvement products like asphalt roofing shingles — and
they’re often turning to roofing pros to help round out that education.
Having knowledge such as how much energy is used to create shingles and what happens to them once their lifecycle is done will help you educate customers on sustainable roofing.
Roofers as Educators
To
provide your customers with the service and guidance they’re looking
for, it’s critical to familiarize yourself with what’s happening in the
building industry regarding sustainability. That often comes down to
knowing what steps shingle manufacturers are taking to make their
processes more sustainable and how their products help you and your
customers lower your environmental impact.
There are four primary considerations to serve as your starting point with asphalt shingles:
-
The energy required to manufacture them
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The source materials used to create them
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The energy savings offered by their performance
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What happens to them when they’ve reached their end of life
Thanks
to their relatively lower cost, a multitude of performance features,
and an array of color choices, asphalt shingles are America’s most
popular residential roofing material, which means you probably install
more of it on homes than any other material. It pays to get a handle on
sustainable roofing for you and your customers.
Because it avoids tapping into new natural resources, non-virgin raw material is a much more sustainable option for producing asphalt shingles.
Assessing the Manufacturing Process
Assessing roofing product sustainability begins with how manufacturers operate their facilities. Are they actively reducing CO2
emissions in the making of their products? Are they scaling back water
use? Are they limiting product waste from the manufacturing process? Do
they have clearly defined and easily accessible goals around these
initiatives?
Some roofing manufacturing facilities are going above
and beyond in these areas. One award-winning Minnesota-based plant, for
example, is diverting upward 300 tons of industrial waste from
landfills annually and has implemented multiple energy efficiency
projects that offset 925 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to 206 gas-powered cars driven for one year.
Another
facility under the same roofing product brand has reduced landfill
waste by 14% annually simply by rethinking its packaging materials and
processes. That same brand is now sourcing 35% of its electricity
company-wide for manufacturing shingles from renewable energy sources.
Manufacturers
often include this type of data in brochures and other marketing
materials. Check with your local distributor for any available
sustainability information about the product line or chat with
manufacturer reps, who can provide additional information.
Source Material
Caring about the environment is no longer just an ethical issue for roofing contractors. There’s also a strong business case for getting educated about sustainability efforts in the industry: it matters to your customers.
Every
roofing manufacturer has its propriety mix of ingredients that makes up
its products, but generally, asphalt shingles comprise four main
components:
-
Asphalt, which comes from the processing of petroleum for crude oil-based products
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A back-surface layer to prevent shingles from sticking to each other in storage
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A fiberglass mat for reinforcement
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Granules of fine-grain crushed rock particles to add color and reflect ultraviolet sunlight
The
materials used to create shingles can be derived from various sources.
Among those sources, you’ll typically see two primary classifications:
virgin raw material, which is extracted directly from nature without
processing (think rock or timber), and non-virgin raw material, which is
recycled and reintroduced into the product stream.
Because it
avoids tapping into new natural resources, non-virgin raw material is a
much more sustainable option. And the industry is making strides toward
sourcing recycled content.
One indicator to look for with
products is GreenCircle Certification, which is the industry standard
for third-party verified sustainability claims related to a
manufacturer’s products. If a manufacturer’s shingles are GreenCircle
Certified, you can be assured that they contain a portion of recycled
content and that the manufacturer’s claims are accurate and verified.
Some
manufacturers are going even further by working toward a circular
shingle economy. The goal is to recapture end-of-life shingles and use
them as source material for new products.
Transparency is also a
key factor. When a manufacturer makes it easy to access clear
information about the materials that go into the makeup of their
products, roofers and homeowners alike can make more informed decisions.
In addition to GreenCircle Certification, Environmental Product
Declarations, or EPDs, are effective places to look. EPDs are documents
that transparently communicate what products are made of and their
environmental impacts. Some manufacturers include EPD sections directly
on their websites or provide links to where to find them.
Using shingles with cool roof technology means transferring less heat to the home, lowering utility usage for air conditioning and, by extension, generating less greenhouse gas.
Shingle Performance and Environmental Impact
Another
critical component in assessing sustainable roofing is how the shingles
perform throughout their lifecycle. Some roofing brands specifically
build technology into their shingles to help save energy, resist extreme
weather, and remain durable over time.
Some manufacturers’ shingles include cool roof technology explicitly designed to reflect higher levels of solar heat. More than 90% of the roofs
in the United States are dark in color, absorbing the sun’s heat,
increasing the surface temperature, and forcing HVAC systems to use more
energy. A cool roof transfers less heat to the home, lowering utility
usage for air conditioning — and, in turn, decreasing the demand from
greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources.
Long-term durability is
another important factor. Asphalt shingles must remain pliable enough to
avoid cracking over time and robust enough to resist hail damage and
blow-off from high winds. Some shingles also include components that
resist algae growth. Durable roofs remain attractive for longer and
require less frequent repair or replacement, which means fewer resources
are needed to maintain them.
With an extended lifespan and
energy-saving technology, using fewer resources, and needing to be
replaced less, contractors can help homeowners reduce their
environmental impact with their shingle choices.
Prioritizing Recyclability
With a rise in public consciousness about how individual purchasing decisions impact the planet, homeowners are especially educating themselves when it comes to purchases of everyday home improvement products like asphalt roofing shingles — and they’re often turning to roofing pros to help round out that education.
Equally
important to what goes into shingles is where they go once they’ve
reached the end of their lifecycle. Surveys indicate that when
homeowners consider the environmental impacts of their product choices,
recyclability and recycled content are key considerations.
Asphalt
shingles are engineered to protect homes and precious property over the
long term, which means they’re built to last long after removal.
Shingle recycling is the most effective way to prevent end-of-life
shingles from ending in landfills.
One example is manufacturers
investing in technologies that repurpose shingle waste from the
manufacturing process and construction and demolition sites into an
additive for asphalt road paving mix.
Some manufacturers are also
moving toward technologies that allow them to direct shingle waste into
new shingle products for a two-fold net effect: Not only are old
shingles diverted from landfills, but new shingles can be sourced with
less reliance on virgin raw materials.
Toward a More Sustainable Future
Sustainability
in roofing is not just a trend but a necessity for the success of
roofing contractors, the industry’s future, and the well-being of our
planet. Roofing professionals play a pivotal role as educators and
advocates for sustainable practices, ensuring that the roofs they
install today contribute to a greener and more sustainable tomorrow.
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https://www.roofingcontractor.com/articles/99437-a-roofing-contractors-guide-to-sustainability
