What’s so cool about “cool roofs?”
OUC rebates and lower energy costs, that’s what.
Under our Business Energy Rebates program, eligible customers could receive a rebate for installing cool/reflective roofs on new business locations or retrofitting roofs on current sites. Cool roofs are made of light-colored materials with high solar reflectance, such as highly reflective types of paint, sheet covering or highly reflective tiles or shingles. Energy Star®-certified roof products can lower roof surface temperatures by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
A recently concluded study by the Florida Solar Energy Center found that an OUC Cool/Reflective Roof rebate program participant typically saved 31,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year for a 9 percent reduction in total energy consumption.
In addition to reducing the amount of heat transferred into a building, resulting in a cooler work space and lower power bills, a cool roof extends the life of a roof.
To qualify for OUC’s commercial cool roof rebates of 12 cents per square foot for existing buildings or 4 cents for new construction, the cool roof product must be certified and approved by the Energy Star® Roof Products program and have a solar reflectance value of 0.7 or greater. Our average rebate for an existing building totals 3 percent of the total cost.
But the bigger cost savings comes in lower energy usage month after month.
The white, reflective cool roof on Toole’s Ace Hardware on South Orange Avenue has yielded energy savings and more comfortable indoor atmosphere.
Since installing a cool roof in late 2018, Toole’s Ace Hardware on South Orange Avenue in Orlando’s SoDo neighborhood has seen a 13 percent reduction in energy use from January through August 2019.
“It’s more comfortable inside the store, too,” said Neil Asma, vice president of the Toole’s Ace Hardware group, which owns 10 stores in the Orlando area. “With the AC running less we have less noise inside the store, and that contributes to a better atmosphere inside.”
Asma added that OUC’s rebate process was easy. “I called OUC to see about energy efficiency rebates we may qualify for by putting on a cool roof and they sent a conservation specialist out to the store,” he said. “Qualifying for a rebate helped us make the decision to go with a cool roof. OUC was great to work with.”
If you’re an OUC commercial customer thinking of installing a cool roof on your building, email conservationsupport@ouc.com or call 407.434.2256 to find out if your project would qualify for our rebate program.
