Reply #69: Doesn't Make Sense In The North

[Yo_Mama]

In the north, in latitudes where snowfall occurs frequently, you need a dark roof to absorb sunlight and help melt the snow. A sharply pitched roof and dark shingles are necessities. If the snow builds up too much, you have major problems!

I have a house in the NE and a house in GA. The GA house is built specially to have very low cooling costs, and it does cost about 50% less than the average house of that size. It is also positioned so that in the winter it will get a lot of passive solar effect, so the winter heating bill is minimal. And the roof is light, the house is painted lightly. The major cost there is AC.

The house in the NE has major shade and a dark roof. It does not need to be air conditioned, and in the winter the foliage drops and the dark roof helps to absorb heat and lessen heating costs. The major cost there is heating.

Frankly, I thought Chu's proposal was pretty inane.

Low environmental impact building varies according to the local climate. Those red pitched tile roofs in some areas are used because they are exceedingly fire resistant. You might be able to use lighter tiles, but they would probably darken over time, and the cost of rebuilding would use far more energy than energy saved from different types of roofing.