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Sustainability and Metal Buildings

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Candy McNamee

The movement of the construction industry to create buildings that are more sustainable throughout their life cycle continues to be a fundamental part of a well-designed and well-constructed building. This comes from the building owners who are expecting it, designers who are more skilled at achieving it, construction companies who have incorporated it into their workflows, and manufacturers who have invested significantly in it. These sustainability efforts include the design, fabrication, and construction of pre-engineered metal buildings across the country.

A number of different certification programs (LEED, Green Globes, The Living Challenge, etc.) promote and can independently certify buildings as meeting different levels of “green” or “sustainable” designs. And the recently released International Green Construction Code has been adopted by a number of localities to codify green design and construction. While the details of these programs vary, they all address some fundamental aspects of buildings, and all apply to metal buildings.

Building Site Impacts:

Shop fabrication of metal buildings means the onsite work can be focused to stay close to the building footprint. Once built, the roofs of metal buildings can further reduce site impacts. For example, metal roofs provide an excellent opportunity to collect rainwater so it can be used for non-potable purposes, such as landscaping or toilet flushing. Further, by specifying metal roofing with a high Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) value, the roofing remains cooler than a dark-colored roof and reduces the so-called “heat island effect” surrounding the building.

Reduces Energy Usage:

Metal buildings can also be designed and constructed to create an energy-efficient building enclosure. The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) publishes an Energy Design Guide for Metal Building Systems, available at www.mbmamanual.com, which can help in the process. As MBMA points out, builders can “select the best balance of high-performance roof and wall insulation (including fully insulated metal panels), windows and doors, and foundation insulation that works best and saves the most energy and money when considering all the project requirements.” A metal building with a sloped roof can also be the ideal base to support solar panels that can provide an onsite source of renewable energy for the building to capitalize on.

Responsible Material Usage:

The construction industry has become attuned to looking at the impacts of materials over their full life cycle, and this includes the metal building industry. The MBMA has taken the lead on preparing an industry-wide Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (http://www.mbma.com/Life_Cycle.asp) that includes primary structural steel frames and secondary structural steel (purlins and girts), along with roof and wall products used in metal buildings. MBMA has also prepared Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) based on the LCA and industry-wide product category rules. By using this information, designers, building owners, and constructors can determine the environmental impacts of metal buildings from the extraction of raw materials through manufacturing and preparation to ship to the construction site (“cradle to gate”). The fact that steel products of all types contain a significant percentage of recycled material, and can be again recycled at the end of the service life of the building, helps present a more sustainable picture of steel than does some other building products. Further, the shop fabrication of components helps eliminate construction waste on the job site.

At MBCI, we take LEED project documentation seriously and issue only project-specific documentation for USGBC submittals, so please contact your sales representative for LEED documentation on existing contracts.

Indoor Environmental Quality:

The interior spaces of buildings are generally considered sustainable when they protect the health and well-being of the people who use the building. In the regard, metal buildings provide some advantages over others. First, many of the metal building components can be pre-finished before ever arriving at the site. This means that onsite finishing, which can release harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other substances into the air, are notably reduced or eliminated a the building location. Further, the structural flexibility offered by steel construction means that windows, doors, and skylights can be appropriately spread throughout a building to provide natural daylight and exterior views, which have been shown to have great benefits to the people who work in, visit, or otherwise use the buildings.

Overall, it is the full interaction of all parts of a building, including the owners and users of a facility, that will determine the final sustainability of any building. Nonetheless, it is clear that metal buildings can be a great place to start on the sustainability path. To find out more about metal products and systems that can help your next building be more sustainable, contact your local MBCI representative.

Urban Heat Island, Part 2: How Cool Metal Roofs Benefit Building Owners

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Candy McNamee

In our prior blog post, Urban Heat Islands, Part 1: How Cool Metal Roofs Benefit the Community, we identified the existence of urban heat islands and their contribution to higher air temperatures that are found in urban areas compared to surrounding locations. We also identified a high Solar Reflectance Index (SRI), on a scale of 0-100, as the means to specify materials that can help reduce urban heat islands and benefit entire communities. In this post, let’s focus on the specific benefits to the building owner when cool metal roofs are used.

The Boundy Residence features a cool metal roof

Energy Savings for Cool Metal Roofs

In many commercial and industrial buildings, energy use is one of the largest ongoing operating expenses, meaning that building owners and operators are usually quite interested in lowering or controlling that expense. Cool metal roofs with a high SRI rating can help with that quest. For instance, since air conditioning is commonly a larger cost that heating for many such buildings, it is a natural place to target. Lowering the temperatures at the roof means there is less heat surrounding the building, reducing air conditioning load and directly impacting energy costs.

Comfort in Outdoor Areas

Some building types, such as restaurants, retail, and entertainment facilities, rely on outdoor seating or gathering areas to support their business. If urban heat islands make these spaces uncomfortable to spend time in, the business usually suffers too. Providing these buildings with high-SRI metal roofing can improve the situation.

Long-Term Durability

Building materials can degrade prematurely if they routinely exposed to high heat. The heat can cause them to dry out, become brittle, or simply decompose faster than expected. Using high-SRI roofing is not only good for the longevity of the roofing, it can be good for the durability of the materials directly under the roof as well. Roof sheathing and other substrate materials directly in contact with the roofing receive the same intense solar radiation that the roofing surface does.

Attic spaces below the roofing plane also receive the heat, making attic temperatures in excess of 130 degrees common, causing degradation of materials in those spaces, including mechanical and electrical equipment. That could mean more expansion and contraction of connections and joints or it could mean that air conditioning duct work is being heated, contrary to the efficient operation of the system. In any of these cases, a cool metal roof will help alleviate the negative impacts of solar heat and allow materials to achieve full life expectancy.

Supports LEED Certification

In the Sustainable Sites category of the LEED rating system, Heat Island Reduction can be selected as a credit to receive either one or two points toward certification. This credit relies on both roof and non-roof strategies and looks for calculations of solar reflectance (SR) and demonstrated Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) levels on specified products.

Favorable Payback

All of these benefits above can translate to financial benefits to the building owner or operator. Any cost premium incurred for selecting a high-SRI cool metal roof can likely be realized very quickly in energy cost savings, increased business, or maintenance and durability savings. In addition, the benefits of human comfort and achievement of LEED or other sustainability goals can be realized for the life of the building.

Urban Heat Islands, Part 1: How Cool Metal Roofs Benefit the Community

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Candy McNamee

Summer in the city usually means it’s hot – hotter than surrounding areas. Those who have investigated this phenomenon have identified the presence of “urban heat islands” – places that heat up disproportionately to those nearby.

One reason for this is the predominance of dark asphalt pavement and dark-colored roofing. The significance is that dark surfaces are known to absorb sunlight and re-radiate it back as heat. That’s how thermal solar panels work, but it is also dramatically apparent when walking across a black asphalt parking lot in the summer sun. The heat is coming not only from the sun above, but from the pavement below.

If nearby buildings have dark-colored roofs, the same is happening there. Studies have shown that this re-radiated heat can build up in urban areas and raise the surrounding air temperature by up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit on average. So while it might be a tolerable 85 degrees and pleasant a few miles away, the urban core could be sweltering in a self-induced 90 degrees – even higher on those dark roofs and parking lots.

Measuring Solar Heat

How do we know what materials help or hinder these urban heat islands? First, all materials will absorb and reflect varying amounts of solar radiation based primarily on the color and reflectance of a material. The way to measure that variation is based on ASTM test standards E903 and C1549. These tests are used to determine the solar reflectance (SR) of materials, which is expressed as the fraction of solar energy that is reflected on a scale of 0 to 1. Black paint, for example, has an SR of 0 and bright white titanium paint has an SR of 1 (highest reflectance).

Reducing Heat Islands with Cool Metal Roofs

Taking things one step further, the Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) has been developed as a measure of the ability of a constructed surface, particularly roofs, to stay cool in the sun. It relies on both an initial SR value as well as a thermal emittance value being determined for a material or product. Using ASTM E1980 and values from the Cool Roof Rating Council Standard (CRRC-1), an SRI of between 0 (common black surface) and 100 (common white reflective surface) can be determined. The higher the SRI, the higher the amount of solar radiation that is reflected and thermal radiation minimized, thus creating a comparatively cool surface.

Metal roofing is particularly well suited to achieve high SRI values, minimize heat build-up, and reduce urban heat islands. Recognizing this, many manufacturers test metal roofing products and publish the SRI results, allowing professionals and consumers to make informed decisions. Of course, other roofing materials are tested for SRI values too, but few test as effectively and economically as metal roofing.

(For specific information about the radiative properties of MBCI’s colors, consult our listings in the respective databases on the CRRC and ENERGY STAR websites.)

Benefits to the Community

Specifying and building with high-SRI metal roofs has benefits beyond just the immediate building—reducing urban heat islands keeps excess heat from building up in the surrounding community too. Higher summer temperatures can be detrimental to plants, trees, and people who are outside in urban areas. By using cool metal roofs that reduce the surrounding air temperature, plants don’t lose water as quickly, people are more comfortable, and trees are less stressed. Cooler air temperatures around a building also means air conditioning does not need to work as hard or as often. That translates into less energy use and fewer greenhouse gas emissions from electricity to run the air conditioning—both of which could significantly contribute to cleaner air in the community.

Results

By recognizing the existence of urban heat islands and their impact on people and the environment, those of us in the design and construction field can choose to do something about them. By specifying and installing high-SRI cool metal roofs, the environment benefits, people benefit and our buildings benefit.

Learn more in our blog post, “Code Requirements for Cool Roofs with Climate Zone Specifics.”

Code Requirements for Cool Roofs with Climate Zone Specifics

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Brad Johnson

There is still a lot of discussion—some agreeable and some not so agreeable—about the necessary color of our rooftops. One side of the discussion revolves around keeping the surfaces of our built environment “cool,” so there’s a movement to make all rooftops “cool” by making them white, or at least light-colored. Those on the other side of the discussion claim that cool roofs are necessary to reduce a building’s energy use. Cool roofs can be a really good idea, but let’s not mix up the reasons why cool roofs matter—are we cooling the urban areas (that is, reducing urban heat islands), or are we saving energy costs for individual buildings?
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The average building height in the United States is less than two stories, but “white roofs” are mostly desired in dense, urban areas…and how many buildings here are less than two stories? Tall buildings are typically found in dense, urban areas, with shorter buildings dominating the fringe urban areas. In the suburbs and rural areas, one- and two-story buildings are more the norm. So we have a mix of building heights in the United States, but the conflict is that the “cool roof” focus is often where the tallest buildings exist.

And unfortunately, a cool roof on a 20-story building isn’t going to reduce its energy use, especially if the code-required amount of insulation exists on that roof. Rather, reducing energy use of a 20-story building hinges on the energy efficiency of the 20-story-tall walls—R-value of walls, percentage of windows, and solar blocking eaves, just to name a few items. Conversely, the energy efficiency of a one-story big-box store comes down to its roof. And for these buildings, roof color definitely can make a difference. However, our building codes don’t differentiate based on building proportions, but only on geographic location—and that’s problematic. But as designers, we can improve on the code requirements.

The 2015 International Energy Conservation Code provides specific information about cool roofs, which are required to be installed in Climate Zones 1, 2, and 3 on low-slope roofs (<2:12) directly above cooled conditioned spaces. There are two ways to prescriptively comply with this requirement: use roofs that have a 3-year-aged solar reflectance of 0.55 and a 3-year-aged emittance of 0.75. Notice that initial (i.e., new) reflectance and emittance are not specified; long-term values are more important. The second method to comply is to have a 3-year aged solar reflectance index (SRI) of 64. SRI is a calculated value based on reflectivity and emittance. It’s important to understand why a cool roof is desired and to make appropriate design decisions.

To locate metal roof products that meet the IECC requirements, go to http://coolroofs.org/products/results and use the search function to narrow your results or view our finishes’ SRI ratings on our Cool Metal Roofing page.