Cool Roof Rating Council Celebrates 25 Years of Making Roofs Greener

By Adam Cabrera. 

As concerns about sustainability and climate change grow, the CRRC continues to make strides in the roofing industry.  

In a recent episode of Roofing Road Trips, host Heidi J. Ellsworth spoke with Rich Slomko and Jeffrey Steuben from the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC), offered key insights into the organization's role, highlighting its upcoming 25th-anniversary celebration. 

Founded in 1998, CRRC works closely with government agencies, nonprofit organizations and the roofing industry to combat the urban heat island effect, excessive energy use and pollution.  

"We've got government agencies like the California Energy Commission, the Department of Energy, the EPA, nonprofit advocacy organizations, energy utilities, the national labs,” Jeffery said. “Many, many people in the roofing industry all got together to found this organization.” 

Cool roofs, which have high reflectivity and thermal emittance, contribute significantly to sustainability. These roofing solutions lower building temperatures, thereby reducing energy needed for cooling. "One of the things that happened in 2022 was that the Energy Star for Roofing program sunsetted, and so the CRRC is kind of the only game in town at this point,” Jeffrey said. “We're the premier resource for this type of data, and we're sort of filling that gap that the Energy Star program has left.” Another vital role of CRRC is to provide unbiased, third-party ratings of roofing products' radiative properties, ensuring they meet building codes—particularly in California.  

This year marks the 25th anniversary of CRRC, and the organization celebrated its legacy in the roofing industry at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on June 14 of this year. Rich emphasized why the annual meeting is such an important event. "We have a lot of great industry minds within the CRRC, so you get to see what those minds have come up... see what the plan is for the future, how the CRRC's going to expand, how the CRRC is going to grow," he said, adding that the event offers a unique opportunity for networking and learning about the industry's latest updates. 

Read the transcript or listen to the Roofing Road Trips episode to learn more about cool roofing and what you can do to get involved with CRRC.