RoofViews

Residential Roofing

5 Ways Roofers Can Celebrate Earth Day, Everyday

By Annie Crawford

March 22, 2018

Graphic image of earth from space in blues and greens reading 'Make Every Day Earth Day.'

Your work lives in the public eye, protecting families from the elements through the roofing systems you install. As a roofer, you can have just as much of an impact on protecting the planet as you do protecting homes. With a few simple strategies, you can help protect the earth, save yourself money, and build your company's reputation in sustainability. Consider adopting these five money- and environment-saving practices which can help further your efforts to protect the planet on Earth Day and beyond.

1. Swap Out Single-Use Plastic

Save money and the planet at the same time by limiting single-use plastics such as disposable water bottles. Up to 50% of single-use plastic is only in use for minutes before being thrown away, and much of it can't be recycled. Currently, more than 340 million tons of plastic are dumped in the ocean per year—roughly equivalent to one garbage truck per minute.

Your roofing company can make a difference by providing refillable water bottles. Swap out disposable plastic water bottles for a refillable water cooler strapped to your truck. The cost of multiple cases of plastic water bottles adds up quickly. A money-saving alternative is to provide your crew with company-branded water bottles they can refill from the water cooler throughout the day. This one-time expense can help save you money over time and reduces the stress on local landfills.

2. Bring Two Bins

Carry a bin for garbage and a bin for recycling in trucks. Rather than throwing recyclables into a single-use plastic garbage bag slated for the dump, designate a reusable bin for recyclables from the jobsite. Use a second bin to collect garbage. This system saves on purchasing garbage bags and reduces single-use plastic waste.

3. Save on Gas

Work trucks require plenty of fuel, which is why efficient gas use makes both financial and environmental sense.

Here's how to cut down on fuel costs and pollution:

  • Plan ahead for materials: Making multiple supply runs for one jobsite wastes time and gas. Sometimes an extra trip is unavoidable, but checking that all required items are in place can help curb extra driving.
  • Limit truck idling: Encourage your crew to avoid idling trucks for long periods of time, such as during lunch breaks. Idling uses fuel, creating unnecessary emissions and raising fuel costs. The planet—and surrounding jobsite neighbors—will thank you.

4. Recycle Asphalt Shingles

Imagine if the asphalt shingles you tear off during a reroof could be repurposed into new shingles rather than piling up in the dump. You don't have to—it's already possible.

Each year, roofers remove about 13 million tons of asphalt material. Approximately 10% of that becomes part of projects such as road paving. The remaining material represents a lot of garbage with a lot of potential.

The GAF RoofCycle™ Process plans to tap into that potential. GAF is able to use about 90 percent of the post-consumer shingle waste it collects and reintroduce it into the shingle manufacturing process. If scaled, this could put a lot of asphalt waste back to work—reducing both the need for virgin materials and the burden on landfills.

By routing used shingles into the system and educating customers about sustainable shingle options, roofers can play a key role in the future of asphalt recycling. Learn more and receive updates when the program becomes available in your area.

5. Promote Green Roofing

Customers are increasingly committed to helping the environment—71% of consumers are willing to pay more for a socially or environmentally friendly product. Take the opportunity when selling a roof to educate customers about green roofing options:

  • Talk solar shingles: Help customers explore the difference between the Timberline Solar™ roofing system and a traditional asphalt shingle roof. Homes may benefit from solar shingles, which can eliminate the need for a secondary solar panel contractor and highlight the streamlined aesthetic of architectural asphalt shingles.
  • Introduce asphalt recycling: Share the concept of asphalt recycling with customers so that they know their roof may have the potential to be repurposed into the circular roofing economy in the future.
  • Hype Your Efforts: Share how your company's policies—such as reducing single-use plastic—positively impact the world. Don't let your good efforts go unnoticed.

It's never too late to implement individual changes that can have a big impact. Strategies such as ditching single-use plastic can help save money, and using shingles that contain recycled material when they become available in your area can help build goodwill in your community. All of this can help keep our planet healthy.

It doesn't have to be Earth Day for you to think about how you can get involved in more sustainable roofing practices. Get inspired and learn more about how GAF is investing in the shared future of our planet by visiting gaf.com/sustainability.

About the Author

Annie Crawford is a freelance writer in Oakland, CA, covering travel, style, and home improvement. Find more of her work at annielcrawford.com.

Related Articles

Installation of ISO Board and TPO on a Roof
Building Science

Roof Insulation: A Positive Investment to Reduce Total Carbon

Have you ever thought about building products reducing the carbon dioxide emissions caused by your building? When considered over their useful life, materials like insulation decrease total carbon emissions thanks to their performance benefits. Read on for an explanation of how this can work in your designs.What is Total Carbon?Total carbon captures the idea that the carbon impacts of buildings should be considered holistically across the building's entire life span and sometimes beyond. (In this context, "carbon" is shorthand for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.) Put simply, total carbon is calculated by adding a building's embodied carbon to its operational carbon.Total Carbon = Embodied Carbon + Operational CarbonWhat is Embodied Carbon?Embodied carbon is comprised of CO2 emissions from everything other than the operations phase of the building. This includes raw material supply, manufacturing, construction/installation, maintenance and repair, deconstruction/demolition, waste processing/disposal of building materials, and transport between each stage and the next. These embodied carbon phases are indicated by the gray CO2 clouds over the different sections of the life cycle in the image below.We often focus on "cradle-to-gate" embodied carbon because this is the simplest to calculate. "Cradle-to-gate" is the sum of carbon emissions from the energy consumed directly or indirectly to produce the construction materials used in a building. The "cradle to gate" approach neglects the remainder of the embodied carbon captured in the broader "cradle to grave" assessment, a more comprehensive view of a building's embodied carbon footprint.What is Operational Carbon?Operational carbon, on the other hand, is generated by energy used during a building's occupancy stage, by heating, cooling, and lighting systems; equipment and appliances; and other critical functions. This is the red CO2 cloud in the life-cycle graphic. It is larger than the gray CO2 clouds because, in most buildings, operational carbon is the largest contributor to total carbon.What is Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e)?Often, you will see the term CO2e used. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "CO2e is simply the combination of the pollutants that contribute to climate change adjusted using their global warming potential." In other words, it is a way to translate the effect of pollutants (e.g. methane, nitrous oxide) into the equivalent volume of CO2 that would have the same effect on the atmosphere.Today and the FutureToday, carbon from building operations (72%) is a much larger challenge than that from construction materials' embodied carbon (28%) (Architecture 2030, 2019). Projections into 2050 anticipate the operations/embodied carbon split will be closer to 50/50, but this hinges on building designs and renovations between now and 2050 making progress on improving building operations.Why Insulation?Insulation, and specifically continuous insulation on low-slope roofs, is especially relevant to the carbon discussion because, according to the Embodied Carbon 101: Envelope presentation by the Boston Society for Architecture: Insulation occupies the unique position at the intersection of embodied and operational carbon emissions for a building. Insulation is the only building material that directly offsets operational emissions. It can be said to pay back its embodied carbon debt with avoided emissions during the building's lifetime.A Thought Experiment on Reducing Total CarbonTo make progress on reducing the total carbon impact of buildings, it is best to start with the largest piece of today's pie, operational carbon. Within the range of choices made during building design and construction, not all selections have the same effect on operational carbon.When making decisions about carbon and energy reduction strategies, think about the problem as an "investment" rather than a "discretionary expense." Discretionary expenses are easier to reduce or eliminate by simply consuming less. In the example below, imagine you are flying to visit your client's building. Consider this a "discretionary expense." The input on the far left is a given number of kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) generated for the flight, from the manufacturing of the airplane, to the fuel it burns, to its maintenance. The output is the flight itself, which creates CO2 emissions, but no durable good. In this case, the only CO2 reduction strategy you can make is to make fewer or shorter flights, perhaps by consolidating visits, employing a local designer of record, or visiting the building virtually whenever possible. Now consider the wallpaper you might specify for your client's building. It involves a discretionary expenditure of CO2e, in this case, used to produce a durable good. However, this durable good is a product without use-phase benefits. In other words, it cannot help to save energy during the operational phase of the building. It has other aesthetic and durability benefits, but no operational benefits to offset the CO2 emissions generated to create it. Your choices here are expanded over the previous example of an airplane flight. You can limit CO2 by choosing a product with a long useful life. You can also apply the three Rs: reduce the quantity of new product used, reuse existing material when possible, and recycle product scraps at installation and the rest at the end of its lifespan. In the final step in our thought experiment, consider the insulation in your client's building. As before, we must generate a certain amount of CO2e to create a durable good. In this case, it's one with use-phase benefits. Insulation can reduce operational energy by reducing heat flow through the building enclosure, reducing the need to burn fuel or use electricity to heat and cool the building. The good news is that, in addition to the other strategies considered for the flight and the wallpaper, here you can also maximize operational carbon savings to offset the initial embodied carbon input. And, unlike the discretionary nature of some flights and the often optional decision to use furnishings like wallpaper, heating and cooling are necessary for the functioning of almost all occupied buildings.Based on this example, you can consider building products with operational benefits, like insulation, as an "investment." It is appropriate to look at improving the building enclosure and understanding what the return on the investment is from a carbon perspective. As the comparison above demonstrates, if you have a limited supply of carbon to "invest", putting it into more roof insulation is a very smart move compared to "spending" it on a discretionary flight or on a product without use-phase carbon benefits, such as wallpaper.This means we should be careful not to measure products like insulation that save CO2e in the building use-phase savings only by their embodied carbon use, but by their total carbon profile. So, how do we calculate this?Putting It to the TestWe were curious to know just how much operational carbon roof insulation could save relative to the initial investment of embodied carbon required to include it in a building. To understand this, we modeled the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Standalone Retail Prototype Building located in Climate Zone 4A to comply with ASHRAE 90.1-2019 energy requirements. We took the insulation product's embodied energy and carbon data from the Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association's (PIMA) industry-wide environmental product declaration (EPD).To significantly reduce operational carbon, the largest carbon challenge facing buildings today, the returns on the investment of our building design strategies need to be consistent over time. This is where passive design strategies like building enclosure improvements really shine. They have much longer service lives than, for example, finish materials, leading to sustained returns.Specifically, we looked here at how our example building's roof insulation impacted both embodied and operational carbon and energy use. To do this, we calculated the cumulative carbon savings over the 75-year life of our model building. In our example, we assumed R-30 insulation installed at the outset, increased every 20 years by R-10, when the roof membrane is periodically replaced.In our analysis, the embodied CO2e associated with installing R-30 (shown by the brown curve in years -1 to 1), the embodied carbon of the additional R-10 of insulation added every 20 years (too small to show up in the graph), and the embodied carbon represented by end-of-life disposal (also too small to show up) are all taken into account. About five months after the building becomes operational, the embodied carbon investment of the roof insulation is dwarfed by the operational savings it provides. The initial and supplemental roof insulation ultimately saves a net of 705 metric tons of carbon over the life of the building.If you want to see more examples like the one above, check out PIMA's study, conducted by the consulting firm ICF. The research group looked at several DOE building prototypes across a range of climate zones, calculating how much carbon, energy, and money can be saved when roof insulation is upgraded from an existing baseline to current code compliance. Their results can be found here. Justin Koscher of PIMA also highlighted these savings, conveniently sorted by climate zone and building type, here.Support for Carbon Investment DecisionsSo how can you make sure you address both operational and embodied carbon when making "carbon investment" decisions? We've prepared a handy chart to help.First, when looking at lower-embodied-carbon substitutions for higher-embodied-carbon building materials or systems (moving from the upper-left red quadrant to the lower-left yellow quadrant in the chart), ensure that the alternatives you are considering have equivalent performance attributes in terms of resilience and longevity. If an alternative material or system has lower initial embodied carbon, but doesn't perform as well or last as long as the specified product, then it may not be a good carbon investment. Another consideration here is whether or not the embodied carbon of the alternative is released as emissions (i.e. as part of its raw material supply or manufacturing, or "cradle to gate" stages), or if it remains in the product throughout its useful life. In other words, can the alternative item be considered a carbon sink? If so, using it may be a good strategy.Next, determine if the alternative product or system can provide operational carbon savings, even if it has high embodied energy (upper-right yellow quadrant). If the alternative has positive operational carbon impacts over a long period, don't sacrifice operational carbon savings for the sake of avoiding an initial embodied product carbon investment when justified for strategic reasons.Last, if a product has high operational carbon savings and relatively low embodied carbon (lower-right green quadrant), include more of this product in your designs. The polyiso roof insulation in our example above fits into this category. You can utilize these carbon savings to offset the carbon use in other areas of the design, like aesthetic finishes, where the decision to use the product may be discretionary but desired.When designing buildings, we need to consider the whole picture, looking at building products' embodied carbon as a potential investment yielding improved operational and performance outcomes. Our design choices and product selection can have a significant impact on total carbon targets for the buildings we envision, build, and operate.Click these links to learn more about GAF's and Siplast's insulation solutions. Please also visit our design professional and architect resources page for guide specifications, details, innovative green building materials, continuing education, and expert guidance.We presented the findings in this blog in a presentation called "Carbon and Energy Impacts of Roof Insulation: The Whole[-Life] Story" given at the BEST6 Conference on March 19, 2024 in Austin, Texas.References:Architecture 2030. (2019). New Buildings: Embodied Carbon. https://web.archive.org/web/20190801031738/https://architecture2030.org/new-buildings-embodied/ Carbon Leadership Forum. (2023, April 2). 1 - Embodied Carbon 101. https://carbonleadershipforum.org/embodied-carbon-101/

By Authors Elizabeth Grant

September 13, 2024

GAF Shafter Plant
Building Science

GAF Scaling Environmental Product Declarations—Publishes 21 EPDs

At GAF, we're serious about our sustainability promise: to protect what matters most, including our people, our communities, and our planet. We recently published 21 new GAF product-specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as one way we're delivering on that promise.EPDs are critical to improving green building solutions. These standardized and third-party-verified documents outline the environmental impacts associated with a building product's life cycle—from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal or reuse. Through the EPD creation process, we have been advancing on our sustainability goals, demonstrating our commitment to the environment and our customers, and increasing product sustainability in the roofing industry.Here's a look at our most recent progress and what's expected to come.GAF Sustainability GoalsThe 21 new EPDs are an exciting milestone toward our GAF 2030 Planet Goals, which have four focus areas: increase product transparency, reduce carbon emissions, drive circularity in the roofing sector, and divert operational waste. By 2030, we plan to publish EPDs for our entire commercial and residential core product portfolio. As we've scaled the GAF EPD creation process, through extensive life cycle assessments across our portfolio, we better understand the environmental impact of each stage in our products' life cycles. This opens up internal and external sustainability opportunities as we learn from, and analyze, our life cycle assessment results.Evolving to Product-Specific Environmental Product DeclarationsRoofing has long relied on industry-wide EPDs created from aggregate product data. As a result, our architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community members have had fewer opportunities to make informed sustainability choices around roofing materials.According to several sources, the built environment accounts for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions worldwide. Collectively, we as a roofing industry could help reduce this number by increasing our transparency documentation. With more product-specific Environmental Product Declarations, companies and customers can make more informed product sustainability decisions.And although GAF currently has the highest overall number of transparency documents for roofing materials in the industry, we know we also have an opportunity to grow.GAF Uses Life Cycle Assessments to ImproveWe review product Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) to understand the environmental impact of each product's production stages, from raw material extraction to end-of-life. Then, we can use that information to identify areas of improvement and make informed decisions to reduce a product's environmental impact, resulting in a reduction in embodied carbon. The knowledge we gain from our LCAs creates the potential for product improvements and new innovations to help further our 2030 Planet Goals.Looking Toward 2030 and BeyondWe're working hard to continue leading the industry with transparency documentation such as EPDs, Health Product Declarations, and Declare Labels. But we're not stopping there.We're fostering collaboration in our broader building, construction, and design space to help reduce the built environment's total carbon emissions. At GAF, sustainability isn't checking a box. We believe in and champion protecting our homes and our planet. By changing how we do business, we hope to improve how builders can build and, ultimately, how our world lives.Empowering the AEC CommunityTransparency and product sustainability documentation help us all build a better world. We're committed to empowering designers, builders, architects, and engineers by providing information about the lifecycle and environmental impact of GAF products whenever possible.Explore some of our most recent EPDs below.Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Barrier. Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ HD and HD Barrier Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ HD Plus Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH Barrier Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH HD Plus Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH HD Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH Ultra Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH Ultra Tapered Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Ultra Polyiso InsulationUltra HD Composite InsulationTPO Single-Ply MembraneEverGuard® TPO Extreme Fleece-backEverGuard® TPO ExtremeEverGuard® TPOEverGuard® TPO Fleece-backEverGuard® SA TPO Self-Adhered Roof MembranePVCEverGuard® PVCEverGuard® PVC Fleece-back Roof CoatingsHydroStop® System GAF Acrylic Top CoatLooking to explore more sustainable design solutions? You can learn how GAF is investing in our people, our planet, and progress for a more sustainable future, here.

By Authors Aly Perez

August 13, 2024

GAF Sustainability Award winners holding their award.
In Your Community

GAF Celebrates Major Strides in Manufacturing Sustainability

Manufacturing sustainability is a top priority for GAF. In 2022, the company announced its 2030 Planet Goals to "focus on operational improvements, product transparency, and the introduction of circularity in the asphaltic shingle industry."Looking to lead positive change while considering the long-term impact of its business on the planet, GAF identified several goals, including:Diverting 1 million tons of roofing materials from landfills while integrating recycled shingle materials into new shingle productsDiverting 80% of manufacturing waste from landfills, recycling all shingle and TPO scrap that results from the manufacturing process, and recycling or reusing fiberglass mat scraps and coresReducing embodied carbon and operation carbon throughout its manufacturing and operationsAchieving Environmental Product Declarations for its core products, conducting life cycle assessments, and generating 2.5 GW of power from solar roofs in partnership with GAF EnergyMeeting these goals takes time, resources, innovation, and ingenuity, all backed by a team working to build a better world. Every GAF location is striving to meet the company's goals. Looking back on the progress made in 2023, some impressive accomplishments are bringing the company closer to achieving full manufacturing sustainability.Residential ManufacturingThe GAF Mt. Vernon, Indiana, shingle manufacturing plant worked toward achieving sustainable operations through robust recycling efforts. The team established a shingle recycling outlet estimated to divert thousands of tons of asphalt shingles from landfills annually. This has eliminated thousands of dollars in disposal fees and reduced transportation costs.The Mt. Vernon staff found creative ways to keep complex waste materials out of landfills, including working with a local golf course that could take the plant's waste sand. The team implemented an internal recycling program that includes cardboard and packaging materials, increasing its waste diversion score.Commercial ManufacturingAt the Gainesville, Texas, plant that manufactures TPO and Polyiso, team members earned the area's first waste diversion certification for both products' waste streams. They also earned a recycled content certification for each.The plant established a trial program with a plastics recycler to reprocess TPO skin material for reuse in manufacturing new material. Recycling and reusing would divert thousands of tons of waste from landfills and use recycled materials in manufacturing flexible TPO for flashings.The plant also developed a program with a local recycling company that serves as a single source to take its pallets, large cardboard boxes, facers, paper, and plastics.Sustainability All-StarsRecycling and manufacturing sustainability programs wouldn't be possible without the people behind the initiatives. GAF is proud to spotlight these individuals who went above and beyond to meet the company's sustainability goals.Ben AnselmanAs part of the Mt. Vernon team, Anselman was critical to starting the plant's core recycling program. He initiated repairs to an existing baler and established a program for recycling the super sacks. His creativity sparked the partnership with the local golf course to divert aggregate waste from landfills. In addition, he was the champion for the shingle recycling outlet project and repurposed an existing compactor to reinstate a cardboard recycling initiative.Christina Talladira and Amy WilsonThese teammates lead the core recycling program at the Tampa, Florida, manufacturing plant. They worked together to establish aggregate and shingle recycling programs with their local recycling company. Talladira and Wilson consistently look for ways to divert waste streams from landfills. They also handle the administrative needs accompanying these programs, including scheduling loads and tracking waste.Jeremy TisdaleAt the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant, Tisdale took the initiative to improve its core recycling program and set up a cardboard recycling program. He also championed a baler trial for glass mat cover and core waste, developing standard operating procedures and a job safety analysis. He was the innovator behind diverting the plant's plastic waste from landfills. He created a program where stretch film and shingle bundle packaging waste is saved in Gaylord boxes and then baled whenever the plant has downtime.Pete WeyrensIn Gainesville, Texas, Weyrens is the champion behind the plant's recycling efforts, establishing relationships with the local recycling company. He also organized the flexible TPO skin material trials. This effort will divert thousands of tons of waste from landfills and use recycled materials to manufacture flexible TPO for flashings.Leslie PeelsAfter the plant in Cumming, Georgia, saw a drop in its year-over-year waste diversion rate, Peels stepped in to turn those numbers around. Leading the effort to separate recyclable materials from regular waste, the Cumming location saw an impressive increase in keeping waste out of the landfill. Peels also set an example in data collection and analysis to keep the plant's sustainability goals on track.TJ Jenkins and Todd WinsteadJenkins and Winstead represent the TPO team at the Mt. Vernon manufacturing plant. Working together, they used their knowledge and experience in the TPO manufacturing process to help earn the plant's recycled content certifications. They also found a way to divert calcium chloride from local landfills and continue to work closely with the sustainability team to support waste diversion efforts.Sustainability PromiseGAF is committed to "Protect What Matters Most," and that includes people, communities, and the planet. Its sustainability promise is an opportunity to invest in a healthy future for everyone. Learn more about that commitment in its sustainability report.

By Authors Karen L Edwards

April 11, 2024

Don't miss another GAF RoofViews post!

Subscribe now