Who should use this guide

This guide was developed for a range of audiences to help speed a transition to cool roofs and pavements. Some of the information included in this guide is fairly technical and will be most useful to building operators, facilities managers, transportation engineers, developers, and roofing contractors. Some of this information is designed with city leaders and policymakers in mind and focuses on decision tools, city wide costs and benefits, and case studies. We hope that you will find this information useful and that it helps your city, region or organization reap the benefits of adopting cool materials. There are important roles for many groups of people in making cool roofs and pavements a reality. If you are a scientist, a non-profit leader, a funder, a student, a home-owner, or a concerned citizen, we hope you will find this guide useful to your efforts as well. Regardless of your background, please share this guide with people in your city, region, organization, or corporation who will be able to use it to its fullest potential.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the technical experts, government officials, industry representatives, and other organizations that reviewed and provided comments on this guidebook.
We’d like to especially thank Dr. Arthur Rosenfeld, Dr. Ronnen Levinson, Haley Gilbert,  Benjamin Mandel, and Julian Sproul of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Heat Island Group for their technical review of the Primer sections. We also thank Marc LaFrance of the U.S. Department of Energy for his support.