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SolarShield™ granules meet and exceed EPA's Energy Star® steep-sloped roofing requirements SolarShield™
reflective roofing granules are available in a full
array of colors, including Terracotta, Antique
Gold, Black, Accent Tone, Brown, Gray, Gray Green
and other darker tones that are commonly requested
for residential asphalt shingle roofing
products. According to Phil Kehoe, ISP's manager of marketing and specialty products, much attention has been placed on the reflectance values for low-sloped commercial roofing products, since building codes in areas of the United States, such as California and Chicago, mandate that products meet various reflectivity requirements such as those provided by the EPA Energy Star® Program and California Title 24. "This attention is now being drawn more toward steep-slope residential roofing. Although it is difficult to predict future reflectivity requirements for steep-slope roofing materials, it is incumbent upon our industry to find a means to improve the reflectivity of our products since four out of five homes in the United States utilize asphalt shingles," Kehoe said. "ISP Mineral Products' answer to this industry trend is our SolarShield™ line of highly-reflective roofing granules that meet the EPA's Energy Star® steep-sloped roofing initial reflectivity requirements." Today's variety of appealing colors for asphalt shingles is derived from the blending of colored mineral granules during the manufacture of finished roofing products. Darker colored shingles (browns and blacks) tend to be the most popular tones chosen by consumers. These color blends have extremely low solar reflectance, and shingles produced with standard granule products cannot comply with current reflectivity requirements. According to Kehoe, the challenge for ISP's research and development team was to develop more reflective, darker-colored granules that not only satisfy regulatory requirements but also consumers' aesthetic preferences. "Our patent-pending manufacturing process used to develop SolarShield™ reflective granules offers colors that alleviate design compromises and remain consistent with our standard granule colors," Kehoe explained. "Our production process ensures that SolarShield™ granules reflectance values are significantly increased while still maintaining uniform coloring and aesthetic appeal," he added. ISP Mineral Products' unique color-coating process eliminates pigment variations that result in a spotty appearance on the final asphalt shingle product. Also, SolarShield™ granules are as durable as ISP's traditional mineral granules, which provide long-term stability during weathering. SolarShield™ reflective roofing granules are available in a full array of colors, including Terracotta, Antique Gold, Black, Accent Tone, Brown, Gray, Gray Green and other darker tones that are commonly requested for residential asphalt shingle roofing products. Algae-resistant SolarShield™ granules are also available for blending with other reflective granules. For more than 80 years ISP has been making semi-ceramic coated, colored mineral granules for the North American roofing market. ISP offers a broad range of products that provide algae resistance, improved color stability, granule durability, color permanence and high reflectivity. ISP Mineral Products is headquartered in Hagerstown, Maryland, and has manufacturing facilities in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania; Pembine, Wisconsin; Annapolis, Missouri; and Ione, California. For more information on ISP's products, please call 866.266.8504. For more information regarding this press release, please contact Karen Gross at 717.975.2148 or kgross@hersheyphilbin.com. |
