PHOENIX — An innovative cooling roof technology is being tested in the hot Arizona summer sun.
The company SkyCool Systems is testing out a cooling film on four Phoenix mobile homes that can be applied to roofs, which the company claims can stay cooler than the air around it.
“Mobile manufactured homes, in general, have poor insulation, an enormous amount of heat enters the homes through the roof,” cofounder and CTO Eli Goldstein said. “By putting the film on the roof, we're essentially going to keep it much colder than it would otherwise be.”
The study will look at temperatures inside and outside each home over several weeks before and after the cooling roof is installed.
“We feel it's really important now as a climate is getting hotter, to really demonstrate the potential of these types of materials in the real world,” CEO Arjun Saroya said.
DeAnna Mireau with the Arizona Association of Manufactured Home Owners is one of the few homeowners that’s participating in the study.
“We're the poster child for heat in the entire United States,” Mireau said. “You know, we've had people right here on my street whose air conditioning has gone out and had they had this on the roof, their home would stay cooler longer. So I do believe it's a lifesaver.”
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Mireau said she’s already noticed a change in the temperature of her home and her AC bill.
“I could feel the difference in the heat,” Mireau said.
She hopes more seniors on fixed incomes can benefit from something like this.
“This could be the difference between them able to go to the store and buy the groceries they need or just half of what they really need,” Mireau said.
But there is a cost barrier currently, the company estimates installation at three to five dollars per square foot.
Saroya said the goal is to bring that cost down as the product’s usage grows, saying it could eventually be a tool used by entities, both private and public, that are investing in extreme relief.
“The more you make the cheaper it gets to the point where hopefully the incremental cost of adding these materials to roofing products for example is negligible,” Saroya said.
