How CRRC is Filling the Gap Left by ENERGY STAR®

By Cayden Wemple. 

With the sunset of ENERGY STAR roofing program, CRRC is leading the way in home energy efficiency education.  

The ENERGY STAR roofing program was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1999 to certify roofing products that they deemed “sustainable” and was meant to educate the homeowner on eco-friendly products as well. After a 20-year operation, the EPA decided to sunset the program and have companies like the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) take over. In a Roofing Road Trips Episode, Heidi J. Ellsworth paid a visit to Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) Deputy Director Sarah Schneider and Project Manager Audrey McGarrell to discuss the sunset of ENERGY STAR and what CRRC is doing to fill the gap that was left over.  

The CRRC is continuing to rate products in a similar way that ENERGY STAR did.  

The most important resource that we are providing to contractors, to homeowners, to policymakers is our free online rated roof products directory,” Audrey said. “We have been rating roofing products for around 20 years. So this directory is not new, but with the sunset of the ENERGY STAR program, it's becoming more prominent and it is the only publicly available database for the radiative properties of roofing materials.” 

A big difference between the CRRC and ENERGY STAR certification is that the CRRC certification is more inclusive of the products that they rate. “We allow any type of roofing product to participate,” said Audrey. “We publish data, whether it's high or low, whether some jurisdictions would consider it cool or not. We are really basically a data clearinghouse where people can obtain their ratings from a credible testing laboratory. We publish that on our free online resource and then it's up to each individual jurisdiction to define what they consider a cool roof. And then people can refer to our directory to find products that fit that mold.” 

The certification can also act as a positive marketing mark. Sarah added, “The CRRC also has a label that manufacturers that participate in the program use on either the product packaging. So that's another way contractors getting materials from distributors can see, ‘Well, it's right there on the package.’ The most current data are always on the directory.” 

Learn more about CRRC is their RoofersCoffeeShop Directory or visit coolroofs.org. 

Listen to the full podcast to discover all the contributions CRRC is making to the roofing industry. 

About Cayden  

Cayden is a reporter for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When he isn’t writing about roofs, he’s usually playing guitar or writing songs for his musical endeavors.