If you haven't registered to attend the International Roofing Expo yet, there is still time to do so and if you register on or before January 8, you can receive discounted registration rates.

“The International Roofing Expo continues to be the ultimate gathering for the industry,” says Donna Bellantone, director of the IRE. “The show is a great venue for the most influential players to help drive the future direction of our industry.”

Attendance for the 2009 event is expected to draw more than 8,500 professionals nationwide from rookies to top executives to senior-level managers.

Known as the roofing industries leading commercial and residential marketplace, the Expo is owned and produced by Hanley Wood Exhibitions. HW purchased the show from the National Roofing Contractors Association in 2004.

This month, the National Roofing Contractors Association's NRCA University will launch Cool Roofs, an interactive online educational program. The program examines roof coverings and surfacing materials that minimize roof surface temperatures, which can result in less energy consumption and longer-lasting roof systems.



In this introductory course, participants will learn about the surface properties that contribute to a roof's coolness and how these properties can be maintained for maximum effectiveness over time. Program participants also will learn about the organizations that develop guidelines and provide product information for cool roofing materials; explore types of roof membranes, coatings and materials that have cool roof properties; identify climate and building-use issues; and examine building and energy codes, roof configuration, roof deck structural capacity, insulation requirements and other variables that must be considered when designing a cool roof.

Cool Roofs includes animation, graphics, videos and interactive learning activities and takes about one hour to complete. Continuing-education credits are available, and participants will receive a certificate of completion upon passing an exam.

Cool Roofs is one of six modules in NRCA University's Roofing, Energy and the Environment Series, an online educational program aimed at helping roofing professionals and end users understand how roof systems can contribute to energy conservation and environmental protection. Another module, Vegetative Roof Systems, also launched this month. Other modules will include Photovoltaics and Roofing, Building Codes and Rating Systems for Roofing, Introduction to Energy-efficient Roof Systems, and EnergyWise Tutorial and Case Studies. Those who complete the entire Roofing, Energy and the Environment Series and a final exam will receive a Roofing, Energy and the Environment Series Certificate.

For more information about Cool Roofs or NRCA University's Roofing, Energy and the Environment Series, contact Jeanne Schehl, NRCA University's director of education program development, at (800) 323-9545, ext. 7566 or jeaschehl@nrca.net.

In the third quarter of 2008, The Garland Company, Inc., the Cleveland-based manufacturer and distributor of high-performance solutions for the building envelope, was the recipient of two regional and one national awards honoring its contributions in a variety of areas.
 


As a first-time member of Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000,  Garland was one of only 67 Ohio companies recognized as one of the nation’s fastest growing private businesses. The Inc. 5000 has become a benchmark for the most innovative, dynamic, and successful companies in the nation. Alumni include such prestigious companies as Microsoft and Oracle.
 
The City of Cleveland Department of Economic Development in cooperation with the Cleveland Citywide Development Corporation recently honored Garland Industries with its Brownfield Redevelopment Award. This award honors Cleveland-based companies for their accomplishments in assisting the local economy. Garland’s CFO Chuck Ripepi explains, “Our decision to invest in this property, adjacent to our corporate headquarters, is evidence of Garland’s on-going commitment to help grow the economy of Cleveland, where many our workers reside.”
 
For the ninth consecutive year, Garland  Industries, Inc. was selected by the Employers Resource Council (ERC) as one of the top 99 places to  work in Northeast Ohio. The ERC is Northeast Ohio’s largest employers’ association serving over 1,000 organizations, serving nearly 400,000 employees in 22 counties. As a NorthCoast 99-award-winning company, Garland was evaluated on a number of employee-focused criteria, including compensation and benefits, health and safety, training and education, diversity, communication, and community  service and involvement.  
 
According to Wally Barch, who is a director of recruiting and training for Garland Industries, “These recognitions demonstrate the commitment Garland has made to attracting and retaining top performers. In today’s competitive economy, finding the best people is directly tied to a company’s performance in three critical areas: a track record of aggressive growth, involvement in its home community, and a supportive, people-first culture. Garland is proud to have been recognized for our achievements in all three areas this year.”
 
For more information, visit www.garlandco.com

Solar products and metal roofing go hand in hand. In fact, the February-March 2009 issue of Metal Roofing Magazine will be featuring projects that incoporate metal roofing and various solar products. For those of you who have jumped on the solar bandwagon, here's some good news. For those of you who haven't ... pay attention. Solar products could soon become more efficient.

From the RPI website:

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.

“To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,” said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research project.  “Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.”

Results of the year-long project are explained in the paper “Realization of a Near Perfect Antireflection Coating for Silicon Solar Energy,” published this week by the journal Optics Letters.

An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power. 

After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability. 

Lin’s new coating also successfully tackles the tricky challenge of angles. 

Most surfaces and coatings are designed to absorb light — i.e., be antireflective — and transmit light — i.e., allow the light to pass through it — from a specific range of angles. Eyeglass lenses, for example, will absorb and transmit quite a bit of light from a light source directly in front of them, but those same lenses would absorb and transmit considerably less light if the light source were off to the side or on the wearer’s periphery.

This same is true of conventional solar panels, which is why some industrial solar arrays are mechanized to slowly move throughout the day so their panels are perfectly aligned with the sun’s position in the sky. Without this automated movement, the panels would not be optimally positioned and would therefore absorb less sunlight. The tradeoff for this increased efficiency, however, is the energy needed to power the automation system, the cost of upkeeping this system, and the possibility of errors or misalignment.

Lin’s discovery could antiquate these automated solar arrays, as his antireflective coating absorbs sunlight evenly and equally from all angles. This means that a stationary solar panel treated with the coating would absorb 96.21 percent of sunlight no matter the position of the sun in the sky. So along with significantly better absorption of sunlight, Lin’s discovery could also enable a new generation of stationary, more cost-efficient solar arrays.

“At the beginning of the project, we asked ‘would it be possible to create a single antireflective structure that can work from all angles?’ Then we attacked the problem from a fundamental perspective, tested and fine-tuned our theory, and created a working device,” Lin said. Rensselaer physics graduate student Mei-Ling Kuo played a key role in the investigations.

Typical antireflective coatings are engineered to transmit light of one particular wavelength. Lin’s new coating stacks seven of these layers, one on top of the other, in such a way that each layer enhances the antireflective properties of the layer below it. These additional layers also help to “bend” the flow of sunlight to an angle that augments the coating’s antireflective properties. This means that each layer not only transmits sunlight, it also helps to capture any light that may have otherwise been reflected off of the layers below it. 

The seven layers, each with a height of 50 nanometers to 100 nanometers, are made up of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanorods positioned at an oblique angle — each layer looks and functions similar to a dense forest where sunlight is “captured” between the trees. The nanorods were attached to a silicon substrate via chemical vapor disposition, and Lin said the new coating can be affixed to nearly any photovoltaic materials for use in solar cells, including III-V multi-junction and cadmium telluride.

Along with Lin and Kuo, co-authors of the paper include E. Fred Schubert, Wellfleet Senior Constellation Professor of Future Chips at Rensselaer; Research Assistant Professor Jong Kyu Kim; physics graduate student David Poxson; and electrical engineering graduate student Frank Mont.

Funding for the project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, as well as the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Caption: A new antireflective coating developed by researchers at Rensselaer could help to overcome two major hurdles blocking the progress and wider use of solar power. The nanoengineered coating, pictured here, boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire spectrum of sunlight from any angle, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky.

Credit: Rensselaer/Shawn Lin

Fabral is the latest metal roofing manufacturer to offer a standing seam solar package.



The Solar SSR — a standing seam metal roof system that harvests energy from the sun. The Solar SSR, a photovoltaic (BIPV) solar laminate, produces electricity when exposed to sunlight and offers a green solution for metal roofing applications.

The foundation of Solar SSR’s energy generating capability is the Uni-Solar state-of-the-art thin-film solar laminate, a lightweight and highly flexible material from United Solar Ovonic, applied to the surface of Fabral standing seam panels. When exposed to sunlight, the solar laminates produce electricity, even in low temperatures and cloudy environments. Electricity generated by the laminates is fed back through the electrical system into the power grid.

The flexibility and durability of these laminates make them ideal for metal roofs, where expansion, contraction and curving are considerations. The panel/laminate bond created has been tested and proven to withstand winds up to 160 mph.

The enhanced efficiency, combined with government incentives, tax rebates and renewable energy credits, provides impressive returns on investment.

Custom-Bilt Metals has launched its newly redesigned website at www.custombiltmetals.com.

The new site provides targeted pages for homeowners, architects and contractors, offering a wealth of information on the company’s metal roofing, rain gutter systems, corrugated panels, and wall and soffit panels.



A “Products” section breaks down the company’s line-up of roofing materials, most of which are manufactured with Cool Roof technology. A “Cool Roof/Green” section explains how the technology works and how it can contribute to Energy Star points and LEED credits. The “News” page aids all visitors during their research phase, while the “Where to Buy” link points them in the right direction when they’re ready to begin their projects.



As a special service to architects, the site offers information about AIA-Learning Units toward Continuing Education Credits, certification opportunities and installation guides. The “Review” link on the “AIA-Learning Units” page allows architects to take a quiz that measures their retention of the information found on the Learning Units page.

Gutter contractors can learn about the company's offerings in a section dedicated to its popular seamless rain gutter systems at www.custombiltmetals.com/products-gutters.php.



The “Gutters” pages provide a thorough overview of the company’s gutter products and profiles, as well as the materials and colors available. The “Rain Gutter Machines” page displays the company’s line-up of seamless gutter machines, and includes a special product listing complete with detailed PDFs for each machine. “Product Literature” and “Warranty Information” links give contractors the up-front information they need to make informed equipment and product decisions that will boost their bottom lines.