Thursday, 15 June 2023

Cool Roof Policy

Telangana government announced a one of its kind “Cool Roof Policy” for buildings, to make them heat resilient, besides reducing energy consumption.
 Telangana became the first state to introduce a cool roof policy 
 It was made mandatory for all government, nonresidential and commercial buildings irrespective of the size of the area they are built in. 
 It has been kept optional or voluntary for buildings with a plot area of less than 600 square yards. 
 Three different types of material could be used for cool roofs. 
 In the first type, roofs can be coated with a material or paint having high reflectivity. These are liquid applied coatings made of simple materials such as lime wash, an acrylic polymer, or white plastic coating. 
 In the second type, prefabricated materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membranes or bitumen based sheeting can be used to cover an existing roof to increase the roof surface’s solar reflectance and thermal emittance. 
 The third type of cool roof involves the application of high albedo, ceramic mosaic tiles, or shingles on top of an existing roof or to a new roof.