RoofPoint Is Well-suited to the Retrofit Roofing Market

In October 2012, the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing formally launched RoofPoint, the world’s only rating system specifically for sustainable roofs. The RoofPoint rating system includes five functional areas:

• Energy Management
• Materials Management
• Water Management
• Durability/Life Cycle Management
• Environmental Innovation in Roofing

The functional areas mimic USGBC’s LEED rating system; however, RoofPoint spotlights environmentally friendly, long-lasting and durable roof systems. RoofPoint includes 23 specific credits, and the RoofPoint Guideline provides key strategies, specific goals and measurable criteria for each of the 23 credits in the RoofPoint rating system.  The website includes a database of RoofPoint-rated roofs, the RoofPoint Guidelines and an easy-to-use web-based RoofPoint submittal form.

RoofPoint can be used for new construction and, importantly, for retrofit reroofing projects. This concept is a key component of the RoofPoint program as reroofing is an important and very necessary facet of owning a building—at some point every building will need to have a new roof installed.

Reroofing provides a great opportunity to improve a large component of the building envelope, and a building owner should not miss the opportunity to install a roof that improves the energy efficiency, durability and overall sustainability of his or her building envelope! Currently, the reroofing market is approximately 3 billion square feet annually, and it has been relatively consistent during the past decade because of the quantity of existing buildings in the U.S. When new construction is strong, the opportunity to install environmentally friendly roofs is even larger. It’s clear there is real opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of the existing building stock given the large quantity of annual reroofing projects. Because retrofit roofing projects are rarely performed in conjunction with other building system changes or upgrades, obtaining a LEED certification can be difficult. The RoofPoint rating system fulfills a great need in the retrofit roofing industry.

Energy efficiency is a large component of building sustainability and because of that, energy efficiency is a significant part of the RoofPoint rating system. Buildings use 40 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S. And because the vast majority of buildings are 1 or 2 stories tall, most often the roof system makes up the largest portion of the building envelope.  Therefore, retrofit roofing projects can significantly increase the energy efficiency of the building envelope and the built environment.

Another key factor for sustainability of buildings is longevity and durability of the building-envelope components. Because of that, RoofPoint also has a heavy focus on roof system longevity and durability. Materials and systems that do not need to be replaced often are inherently more sustainable; a roof that has a long service life epitomizes a key principle of sustainability.

Building owners should be aware of the valuable information contained in RoofPoint. RoofPoint can be used to assist with roof system design, material selection, installation and maintenance of environmentally friendly, long-lasting, durable roof systems—in addition to the sustainable rating component. RoofPoint can be used to certify and rate a retrofit roofing project, as well as roof systems on new buildings. RoofPoint is not simply a roof rating system, it allows a building owner to create valuable marketing opportunities that demonstrate respect for the environment and sustainable buildings.