MER Corporation, a highly respected independent research and testing laboratory, tested and evaluated the TPEC roof coating system, and compared it to several other alternatives (including black tar coat, standard roof coat, and highly reflective indoor white paint). The latter is not really an acceptable roof coating, because of its poor ultraviolet (UV) stability. However, for the short duration of the test it is suitable, and provides a good measure to the near full reflectivity conditions.

The tests were performed by constructing wooden enclosures with inside volume of about 2000 cubic inches and surface exposed to the sun of about 450 square inches (three sides). The ratio of surface to volume is about 2.5 times larger than a standard 2000 square foot house, so the results will be slightly more magnified. Temperatures outside, and inside the enclosure were monitored as a function of time from about 10:00 am, to about 3:00 pm+ to capture the hottest part of the day. Tests were performed during the month of May. Outside temperatures over 109º F were recorded. Accordingly, these tests are a good representation of the southwest environments. Typical evaluation test sit-up are shown in Figure 1, and 2, and results are summarized in the following Table. The results were averaged over the period of the test.

As you can see, black t& roof coating results in an increased temperature on the average of 5.8º F for an outside temperature of 100º F, which is easily achieved in the summer in Arizona. While standard light-color roof coating results in 7.5 degrees cooler temperature inside for an outside temperature of 100º F. For the same given outside temperature your coating system results in even higher cooling effect of 10.5º F, which corresponds to 40% better performance. The highly reflective paint resulted in the best performance, but as was mentioned, this paint is for indoor use and is not suitable for roof coating because it not durable. However, it is interesting to note that the TPEC coating system approaches the performance of this highly reflective paint, which indicates that its reflective properties are excellent for high performance roof coating.

In conclusion, TPEC is about 40% better than the standard light color roof paint. It has almost the same performance of highly reflective indoor paint but with superior UV stability. This performance improvement could result in significant energy saving when applied to residential or commercial enclosures.