Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings For Californian Schools With Custom-Bilt Metal Roofs

Metal roofing from Custom-Bilt Metals covers and complements the best of American architecture, from single-family homes, to modern shopping malls and hotels, to decades-old landmarks and, today, to an institution of higher learning.

Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings For Californian Schools With Custom-Bilt Metal Roofs" />

Custom-Bilt Metals is pleased to announce its low-maintenance and energy-saving Titan® Cool Roof metal roofing is helping Southwest College, a Los Angeles area community college in the Westmont neighborhood of the Inglewood district, to significantly reduce its energy costs and contribute to green building energy certification.

Custom-Bilt Metals roofing products now cover Southwest College’s recently completed new construction of nearly 90,000 square feet of facilities, including a student services and activities center, maintenance and operations center, parking structure, field house, and general use and concessions building. The project was fabricated by Keystone Roofing Inc. Custom Metal Solutions of Oceanside, California. Spread over two acres of campus properties, the project offers many interesting architectural features, including the metal roofing and custom metal fascia, as well as roofing on numerous shade structures, all of which unify the look of the facility.

“Southwest College has made a crucial, long-term decision in choosing to install a Cool Roof,” said Tony Chiovare, president of Custom-Bilt Metals. “Most facility managers see an approximately 20 percent drop in their energy bills after installing a Cool Roof from Custom-Bilt Metals. The U.S. EPA corroborates this figure, which can translate to upwards of tens of thousands of dollars in annual energy savings for schools and institutions.“

What is a Cool Roof?

A Cool Roof—or "cool roofing"—is a term used to describe a roofing material’s ability to reduce heat build-up inside a building and thereby reduce energy consumption and costs by reducing air conditioning loads. By minimizing heat gain through the roof as a result of the solar reflectance and thermal emitting properties of the roof's surface material, a Cool Roof minimizes energy consumption and lowers a building’s carbon footprint.

Because buildings with cool roofs use up to 40 percent less energy for cooling than buildings with darker roofs (according to research from the Heat Island Group), Custom-Bilt Metals has partnered with PPG (formerly BASF Chemical Corporation) to offer their panels with the Kynar 500® Paint System with ULTRA-Cool® coatings. Covered with these heat-reflective coatings, the Titan Cool Roof Panel colors also meet the ENERGY STAR® criteria for cool roofs—another element that results in lower energy bills for the building owner.

How much can be saved?

A cool roofing example highlighted in a study by the industry trade group, Metal Initiative, consider the results of two schools in Georgia. Each had a 90,000-square-foot footprint and was identical in construction, except that one had a conventional metal roof, while the other had a "cool" metal roof.

After the first year of operation, the annual cooling cost for the school with the cool roof was $8,054—9.6 percent lower than the school with the standard roof. After the fourth year of operation, it was $14,496—12.8 percent lower, indicating savings are more than keeping pace with the escalation of energy costs in the region.

Contributing to LEED Certification

Custom-Bilt metal roofing products will contribute to points in LEED credits where recycled content, recyclability, energy optimization, and water collection properties are included in a whole-building, weighted-average approach. For example, a cool, prepainted metal roof can qualify for one point in Credit 7.2 of the LEED Sustainable Sites category if it covers at least 75 percent of the roof surface area and meets certain criteria for Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) values. In addition, up to 23 total points for LEED Sites Categories can be achieved with CBM Cool Roofing Products. Each architect or specifier can interpret these points toward LEED Certified Categories.

Sustainable Building Practices Mandated by School District

Custom-Bilt Metals Cool Roof products are a custom fit for the progressive Southwest College of Los Angeles, which is part of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), the largest community college district in the State of California. The LACCD Board of Trustees mandates the use of sustainable building practices for all of its nine campuses. According to the Southwest College Facilities Master Plan: “As directed by the Los Angeles Community College District’s Board of Trustees, all new buildings that are at least half funded with Proposition A and AA Bond monies will be green buildings, built to LEED™ certification standards.”

Prior to this date, the Southwest College had completed one new LEED building, its Child Development Center. The new LEED certified Maintenance and Operations Building, as well as all other buildings being designed or constructed on the campus, will be LEED certified, adhering to the LACCD Board of Trustees’ policy on sustainability. The strong emphasis on campus sustainability is aimed at creating buildings that have a low impact on the environment, provide good indoor air quality for students, staff and faculty, and create long-term energy savings.