You may not have guessed that energy efficiency would be a benefit of asphalt roofing, but it is. When you purchase an asphalt roof, your roofer installs a whole system, including underlayment, that can make your home more energy-efficient.
You can purchase specially designed asphalt shingles in light, medium and dark tones that reflect a higher amount of the sun’s infrared radiation, thereby reducing the temperature of the roof surface. In large metropolitan areas, if the majority of roofs are shingled with these ‘cool’ shingles, the temperature in the city can run a degree or two lower on hot sunny days. This in turn may allow residents to use less energy to cool their homes.
RoofGard-Cool Gray is an example of a synthetic underlayment that is a lighter colored relative to traditional black asphalt-saturated felts and as such offers roofing contractors a cooler surface upon which to work when installing the shingles.