Three environmentally-friendly roofing options
Everybody is going green these days and for good reason. We all live together on the same planet, and thus, being a good global citizen means doing what we can to help take care of our home. The amazing thing is, there are more ways to do so than you might be aware of- and in many cases, they’re super easy!
For instance, did you know that the materials you install onto the roof of your home or place of business could help the environment? It’s true! There is a laundry list of things you can do to your roof to help turn into an ally to our Earth.
Here are three of the most common environmentally-friendly accessories for your roof:
Solar panels
Solar panels are perhaps the most popular way to help the environment for most households today, and for a very good reason. As their name would suggest, solar panels harness the pure renewable energy from the sun’s rays to power your home. This will save you a fortune on your electric bill, and in turn, cause that much less non-renewable energy to be used in order for you to have working electricity. A true win-win scenario! As long as you have adequate space and sufficient materials to situate them on your roof and support them, you can’t go wrong with a few solar panels on top of your house.
A white roof
Sometimes, helping the environment can be as simple as choosing the color white to decorate the exterior of your home. A white roof will naturally reflect the sun’s rays back and shield your house from them, whereas darker colored roofs will absorb the sun’s rays, make your house hotter and force your air conditioning unit to work harder. As a result, you can save money on your electricity bill- and sure enough, that lack of electricity being needed will help take care of the environment in a multitude of ways. The best part of all-in order to reap all these benefits, the roof only needs to be painted white, and can be made up of any materials that you’d like!
A green roof
No, we’re not talking about literally painting your roof’s surface the color green. Rather, we’re talking about installing just a small amount of vegetation onto your roof. Of course, you’ll need a certain level of flatness to your roof in order to pull this off, but if you can, consider the benefits. For starters, planting some vegetation on your roof will cut your energy usage down significantly, as well as drop the temperature of your house by up to 40 degrees. This is because the plant life itself absorbs the heat from the sun- which for your house, has the same effect as a white roof reflecting the heat back. On top of absorbing the heat, plant life on your roof can also help absorb water, which can help spare your house from water leaks and floods. And lastly, though it will require some gardening to stay healthy, it sure can be pretty to look at if you take care of it properly!
