Cool Roofs Economics and Marketing Perspective

The construction industry recognizes that there is a growing impetus, spurred by well-respected global organizations, to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of buildings. This shift presents both challenges and opportunities for the buildings industry. A major opportunity concerns the role of cool roofs in reducing cooling loads and yielding other benefits to a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in building programmes. As yet, however, a significant sector transformation for cool roofing has not materialized. In this chapter we aim to understand why this has been the case by investigating factors that we believe to be important influencers of sector development. Questions are posed regarding the definitions and structure of the cool roof arena. Associated opportunities and the sector drivers have been investigated. The chapter also considers how sector demand is being generated and discusses whether all of the stakeholders are fully engaged in this process. Finally, an attempt is made to identify the nature and availability of initial information that industry players might require in order to consider investment in the cool roofing sector. In conjunction with this examination, some recommendations are made that it is believed could encourage sector development for cool roofing.

Keywords: Markets needs, market structure, market drivers.