When a person decides to live a greener life, they often look around to find areas where they can make greener and more eco-friendly choices. Some opt to reduce their energy consumption while others find ways to reduce the amount of waste they produce.
The materials around you play an important role in helping you go green. For many homeowners, the question is whether the materials they use in their homes have an impact on the environment. The roof, an important part of the house, is often left out of this discussion. In this article, we will look at how your roof impacts the environment.
Type of Material Used
Asphalt shingles are a petroleum product. As such, its manufacture requires the use of fossil fuels, which produce greenhouse gases and are terrible for the environment. The continuing use of shingle roofs continues to increase our dependency on fossil fuels.
Roofing Materials Generate Waste
There are two ways in which roofing materials produce waste: during the installation process, and when a roof needs replacement. During the installation process, small pieces of materials like shingles might be discarded improperly and end up making their way into the environment.
Proper waste disposal during and after a roofing project is the reason why homeowners are advised to pick roofing companies that are environmentally-conscious, in addition to ensuring that the roof lasts as long as possible. Companies like Rock Solid Exteriors try to produce as little waste during the roofing process and dispose of any waste produced after a project is done.
Once a roof’s life cycle is over, the roof needs to be replaced. Some of the roofing materials removed from old roofs end up in landfills where they continue polluting the environment for 20 years or more. This is especially a problem for roofing materials like shingles which cannot be easily recycled.
Reduction in Energy Consumption
The production of the energy we use in our homes often leads to air, noise, water and thermal pollution. Therefore, if we can reduce our energy consumption, we can reduce the impact of energy production on the environment. Roofs do a great job of helping with this. Roofs help keep our home cool in various ways.
Two of the more important ones include deflecting the sun’s heat away from our homes and absorbing heat so it does not reach the home’s interior. By doing this, roofs are directly responsible for reducing our dependence on air conditioning units. This, in turn, leads to reduced energy consumption and a relief on the environment.
While many of us do not think much about it, our roofs have a direct and an indirect impact on the environment. This impact can be felt during the manufacturing process or even when roofs are installed on our homes.
