A national study involving 7 major cities covering each of Mexico’s 6 climate zones, found that cool roofs could help commercial and residential buildings reduce energy consumption by 7 to 18 percent.  The study also found that if cool roof technology were used in just three of the cities studied, it could result in the carbon pollution savings of taking 480,000 cars off the roads, and that these cool roof investments would pay for themselves within 3 years.  It is hoped that studies such as this will help raise global awareness of the energy saving potential of cool surfaces, and help drive supportive policies and market growth for these technologies.

The study was conducted as part of a comprehensive “Cool Roofs Action Plan” developed through support from the Clean Energy Ministerial’s Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership (GSEP).  The Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA) is coordinating GSEP’s Cool Roofs and Pavements Working Group, and GCCA’s Executive Director, Kurt Shickman is one of the authors of this study.  You can learn more about GCCA’s work on GSEP here.