Many people ask “What can I do to my roof to save on energy costs?”

The answer is quite simple - Choose the right energy efficient roof for your home. By choosing the right roofing material can lower the cost on heating and cooling your home.

An environmental friendly energy efficient roof can save money for you. Some of the energy efficient roofing options such as solar panel roofs and solar roof shingles can save you upto 40% to 50% of energy expenses.

But how can a roof save energy and money for me?

Ok, let me explain it here.

We all know that dark color absorbs more heat than lighter colors. This heat conduction and reflection principle also applies to roofs and directly affects homeowners' energy budgets. In recent tests and research on various roofing materials, it is established that lighter the roof color, the lower will be the price and cost of cooling the home.

In a recent research, the Florida Power & Light Company, performed tests of different roofing materials including white shingles, white flat cement tile, white S-shape cement tile, dark gray shingles, terra-cotta S-shape "Spanish" tile, and white metal. They concluded that the dark gray roofs reflected only 8 percent of the sun's heat while white metal roof reflected 66 percent, S-shape cement tiles reflected 74 percent, and the flat cement tiles reflected 77 percent of the sun's energy. White shingle reflected 25% and terra-cotta tile roofs reflected 34 percent of the heat of the sun. Out of all these energy efficient roofing materials, the white, galvanized metal roof saved the most energy because it cooled down the most at night.

This result is reliable because the study of Florida Power & Light Company focused on identical residences in the same area and each thermostat of each home was set at a constant 77 degrees.

Based on these results, Florida Power & Light suggests a Florida homeowner in an average-size home can cut annual cooling costs by 20 to 25 percent by choosing a white, galvanized metal roof rather than a dark gray shingle roof. White S-shape cement tile can save a homeowner 20 percent, while white, flat cement can save 17 percent.

These energy efficient roofs can allow homeowners to their use air-conditioning less frequently and save on energy costs.