[Greenbuilding] New ORNL roofdeck model

Jason Holstine jason at amicusgreen.com
Tue Sep 11 16:07:31 CDT 2012


http://www.rdmag.com/News/Feeds/2012/09/energy-ornl-roof-and-attic-design-pr
oves-efficient-in-sum/


OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Sep. 10, 2012 ‹ A new kind of roof-and-attic system
field-tested at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
keeps homes cool in summer and prevents heat loss in winter, a
multi-seasonal efficiency uncommon in roof and attic design.

The system improves efficiency using controls for radiation, convection and
insulation, including a passive ventilation system that pulls air from the
underbelly of the attic into an inclined air space above the roof.

"Heat that would have gone into the house is carried up and out," says Bill
Miller of ORNL's Building Envelope Group. "And with a passive ventilation
scheme, there are no moving parts, so it's guaranteed to work."

The new roof system design can be retrofitted with almost all roofing
products. The heart of the design is a foiled covered polystyrene insulation
that fits over and between rafters in new construction or can be attached on
top of an existing shingle roof system. Homeowners don't have to remove old
shingles, which saves money.

Poorly sealed HVAC ducts leak conditioned air into an attic, which typically
costs homeowners $100 to $300 per year based on ORNL computer simulations.

To address the problem, some homeowners pay $8,000 to seal the attic with
spray foam, which can save upwards of $460 a year. For less initial cost and
the same number of payback years, homeowners can retrofit the attic with the
new design for about $2,000 and save $100 a year.

Looking to the future, Miller and colleagues are working on designs with
lower initial installation costs, and greater cost-effectiveness overall.

The paper, "Prototype Roof Deck Designed to Self-Regulate Deck Temperature
and Reduce Heat Transfer," was published by the National Roofing Contractors
Association. Authors on the paper are W. Miller, Stan Atherton and Russell
Graves of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Billy Ellis of Billy
Ellis Roofing.

Funding was provided by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy and Billy Ellis Roofing under a User Agreement. UT-Battelle manages
ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic
research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of
Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our
time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Office of Science. The Office of Science is
the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in
the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing
challenges of our time. For more information, please visit
http://science.energy.gov/.

By Emma Macmillan

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