DECISION GUIDE / By Arisol team
Is a cool roof worth a closer look?
Cool-roof screening compares roof and operating assumptions to decide which buildings deserve further assessment. It can support a shortlist; it cannot certify roof condition, select an installation system or prove energy savings. Start with the evidence you have, label what you assume, and use the result to plan a site visit—not to authorize a retrofit.
Who is screening for?
Building owners and facilities teams can compare candidate roofs before commissioning deeper work. Roofing and energy-efficiency companies can prepare a bounded outreach list with explicit data gaps. In Tempe, Arisol uses live municipal address records and historical building footprints; a listed building is not a qualified customer or a current roof survey.
If the roof leaks, has suspected moisture or structural damage, or needs urgent repair, start with a qualified site inspection. A favorable energy scenario does not establish that a roof can accept a coating. Outside supported coverage, do not treat a missing result as evidence that a building has no opportunity.
What can a cool-roof screen tell me?
Higher solar reflectance reduces absorbed sunlight; thermal emittance describes how a surface releases heat. These are different properties, and visible whiteness is not a complete reflectance measurement. Berkeley Lab explains the underlying cool-roof physics. Less absorbed solar energy is not the same quantity as cooling electricity saved.
Arisol compares a baseline and proposed scenario, reports sensitivity ranges, and makes assumptions reviewable. It does not measure indoor comfort, membrane chemistry, moisture, roof life or installation suitability from a map. AI-assisted visual observations from permitted images are clues with uncertainty, not inspection findings or validated roof-recognition accuracy.
Municipal footprints are historical USGS 2014 LiDAR / ASU 2017-derived data published by the City of Tempe under CC BY 4.0. Live retrieval does not make that geometry current, and footprint area is not measured roof area. See the source links and integration status before using a record.
Inputs and cost assumptions
Bring a confirmed building location, usable roof area, baseline and proposed reflectance, insulation, HVAC efficiency, cooling schedule, shade, solar context and electricity tariff. Record units, dates and whether each value is measured, supplied or assumed. Verify proposed product properties independently; a high-reflectance setting does not validate Arisol Materials.
- Area and exposure: a larger assumed roof increases the modeled surface-energy change when other inputs stay fixed. Shade reduces incident solar exposure. Neither input proves usable coating area.
- Building operation: insulation, cooling hours and HVAC efficiency affect how a surface-energy change translates into electricity. Do not copy assumptions between buildings with different uses.
- Tariff: the electricity rate affects modeled dollar savings, not the physical electricity estimate. A peak kW reduction is not automatically a demand-charge saving.
- Project cost: use a contractor quote for preparation, repairs, materials, labor, access and disposal where applicable. Keep maintenance, warranty conditions and replacement timing visible. The calculator’s cost-per-ft² input is an assumption, not an Arisol price or an installed quote.
An illustration, not a measured case study: start with an assumed 1,000 m² roof. Confirm the building, label that area as assumed, and compare one input change at a time. If roof area or installed cost is uncertain, preserve that uncertainty in the report rather than selecting a more attractive payback. No savings figure is offered for this illustration because its building, operating and cost inputs have not been measured.
Simple payback only makes sense with meaningful positive savings and a defined project cost. It is not discounted cash flow. At replacement time, compare the incremental cost of the cool-roof option with the necessary replacement baseline; for a stand-alone retrofit, consider the full project cost. Use the same scope when comparing quotes.
Screening, audit or replacement?
| Approach | Useful for | Evidence and cost boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Roof screening | Shortlisting buildings and testing assumptions before deeper assessment. | Uses available records and scenario inputs. Not a roof inspection or contractor quote; no site-specific savings validation. |
| Site and energy audit | Checking condition, roof-system compatibility and building-specific energy opportunities. | Scope roof inspection and energy analysis explicitly; they are different specialties. Seek a project-specific fee and measured inputs. An audit is not an installation warranty. |
| Roof replacement | Addressing an end-of-life or unsuitable roof and comparing replacement specifications. | Requires site assessment, design and installed quotes. Screening cannot determine replacement need; compare incremental cooling options against the necessary work. |
A cool roof is one option, not the default answer. An assessment may instead favor repair, insulation, HVAC controls, another roof system, or no immediate retrofit. Compare condition, operational needs, remaining life and total project scope—not only a modeled payback.
What the model leaves unresolved
Arisol provides screening estimates, not guaranteed savings. The model is not a calibrated whole-building simulation. Its conservative/base/optimistic range varies a heat-transfer assumption; it is not a statistical confidence interval. Emittance changes are not modeled in this version, and the simplified approach assumes comparable high-emittance roofs.
Assess heating penalties, moisture risk, aging, maintenance, installation quality and weather at project level. If reflectance does not improve, the model credits no benefit but does not quantify possible increased loads. Field measurements and weather-normalized energy evidence are still needed to validate results. Read the model boundaries and the science and research sources.
Questions before you commit
Can I get a reliable savings estimate from an address alone?
No. An address identifies a candidate, not its insulation, cooling schedule, tariff or current roof condition. Verify the building match and replace assumptions with site-specific evidence before treating the estimate as investment support.
Can a white roof image tell me which coating to buy?
No. Appearance does not certify reflectance, emittance, substrate compatibility or warranty eligibility. Ask for product test data and a qualified assessment of preparation, drainage, moisture and the existing roof system.
Does the Tempe workspace use Google roof measurements?
Not on the current hosted build. Google Solar, Earth Engine and AlphaEarth are not configured. Municipal searches are active; they do not replace missing roof measurements. Gemini visual observations require owned or licensed imagery and remain unvalidated for roof-specific accuracy.
Can I buy an Arisol coating or cite a customer pilot?
Arisol Materials is at prototype and validation stage, not a validated commercial product. There are no completed customer pilots to cite. Published research and modeled scenarios are not measured Arisol material performance.
What can I take away from the workspace?
You can compare scenarios, save leads in your anonymous browser session, export a report and export a municipal shortlist as CSV. Preserve source warnings and assumptions when sharing. Saved leads are not a shared team CRM, and a shortlist does not establish an owner’s interest in buying.
Your next step
Open the Tempe workspace → Confirm a building, label the inputs you cannot verify, compare scenarios, and take the report to a qualified site or energy assessor. Use the Roof Intelligence overview for the workflow.
Talk to Arisol about your evidence gaps → For research collaboration rather than a retrofit purchase, read the materials validation program.