White Roof Summer Dark Roof Winter

In the wintertime that can be a good thing.

White roof summer dark roof winter.

The sun is lower in the winter which means your roof isn t getting the direct sunlight it gets in the summers which means that even with black shingles you wouldn t be absorbing that much heat. A dark roof heats up in the sun and helps reduce your heating bill. But research shows that the heating benefits of a dark roof in the winter are negligible because days are shorter skies are cloudier the angle of the sun is low and sometimes roofs are covered. In the summer the farmers whitewash these roofs to cool their plants down.

A study in adelaide australia found that besides delivering cooling in summer they also act as an insulating layer to keep buildings warmer in winter. Your house gets even hotter and. Dark roofs may have a small snow melt effect but not a sizeable one. But when sunlight falls on a dark roof most of the light is absorbed and re radiated as much longer wavelengths which are absorbed by the atmosphere.

Similarly if your roof experiences winter problems like ice dams your roof color probably isn t the primary culprit. The white powder actually reflects away much of the sunlight so the dark roof underneath cannot absorb heat and melt the snow. Pv cells are dark and so do not reflect much solar radiation into space. Winter days are much shorter than summer days so the benefits of having black shingles wouldn t last for very long.