Education brings cool roofing knowledge to more audiences

By The Coffee Shops™. 

The CRRC is pairing research, digital resources and industry outreach to help professionals better understand cool surfaces and heat resilience. 

Building on its recent program enhancements, the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) is also investing heavily in education designed to make cool roofing information easier to find and apply. 

One of the organization’s newest resources is the Cool Surfaces Toolkit microsite, a dedicated platform created to connect contractors, homeowners, policymakers and other stakeholders with educational content. According to Audrey McGarrell, the site serves as a streamlined resource hub focused specifically on cool roofs, cool walls and cool pavements. “What they're gonna find is first and foremost, there's kind of a curated collection of CRRC educational resources that already exist,” Audrey said. 

The site also includes a searchable Knowledge Base containing more than 600 publications related to cool surfaces, energy efficiency and heat resilience. Users can filter materials by topic and identify resources that are publicly available at no cost. 

In addition, the microsite features the Cool Reflections blog, which expands on content from the organization’s newsletter with accessible articles and new perspectives on cool surface technologies. 

The educational effort extends beyond digital resources. Audrey noted that the CRRC regularly attends industry events such as the International Roofing Expo (IRE) and METALCON, where direct conversations often help address questions that cannot always be anticipated through publications alone. “I have found that one of the best ways that we can educate industry is when we get to have one-on-one conversations with folks,” Audrey said.  

Those conversations frequently center on urban heat islands, which Audrey describes as areas where cities become significantly warmer than surrounding regions because of factors such as limited vegetation, dense development and heat-absorbing building materials. 

The organization also continues promoting educational materials addressing rooftop solar and cool roofs, as well as resources explaining how CRRC ratings can help fill information gaps following the sunset of the ENERGY STAR roofing certification program. 

Looking ahead, the CRRC plans additional educational projects while continuing to support contractors, manufacturers and building professionals through research-backed information and direct outreach. 

Listen to the full podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about cool roofing education, heat resilience and industry resources.