Class A Fire Rated solar & roofs in Wildland Urban Interface Areas

TUV-Rheinland-Fire-Test                                          Courtesy TUV Rheinland

On January 1, 2015, jurisdictions throughout the State of California and elsewhere, with designated Wildland Urban Interface Areas (WUI), will begin enforcing the new Class A & B fire ratings for PV systems and roofing.  Most PV system products have the lower C rating and this enforcement date may prove a disruption for the PV industry.

If the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) requires either Class A or B fire ratings for buildings in the Very High Fire Severity Zones and WUI Areas, the requirement will now be enforced for roofing, mounting hardware and solar panels. In 2000, the U.S. Wildland Urban Interface contained more than 12.5 million housing units, a 52 percent expansion from 1970 (see http://www.ucsusa.org article “Playing with Fire” 2014).

The 2011 International Building Code (adapted in many jurisdictions) requires that PV systems have a fire rating that is the same or better than the required fire rating of the roof, which in the WUI areas is generally Class A or B. To properly address this new fire rating requirement, the safety standard UL1703, which regulates the safety of PV modules and panels, was updated in October of 2013 with new fire performance test requirements.  As of the fall of 2014, only a few manufactures have evaluated their products to the new version of UL1703. This link provides more info on the new test requirements: http://solarabcs.org/about/publications/meeting_presentations_minutes/2014/pdfs/Guide-FireRatingPVSystems-V2.pdf.  The updated UL1703 test requirements do not affect Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics (BIPV) which are fire rated as a roofing product.

Effectively, for many areas where new homes are built or homes re-roofed, the fire classification requirements will be more stringent and the rating will apply to solar panels and mounting hardware.  As Power Shield, Inc. goes through testing as a roof and a BIPV product, it intends to achieve a Class A rating for the metal roof and metal solar roof tiles.

 

Metal Solar Roof Tile Life Cycle Costs

Life Cycle Compare 1
Both a new roof and a solar system are large investments.  Can you recoup your investments in both?Recouping a solar investment is appreciated in revenue/savings from annual production and in the resale value of the system at any point in it’s service life.

As reported by Sal Alfano of Remodeling Magazine, homes renovated with standing-seam metal roofing show a rate of 85.9% cost recouped in the national average – See more at: http://www.metalroofing.com/v2/content/guide/costs/home-appreciation.cfm

When installed properly, metal roofing can last as long as fifty years or more, requiring very little maintenance and looking beautiful all the while.  Few homeowners realize until after the fact but metal roofing can actually cost as little or less than asphalt roofing.  Since asphalt roofing needs to be replaced 2 – 4 times as often as metal roofing.  Add a solar system on an asphalt shingle roof and the costs to re-roof will increase.  The wear and tear on a roof from solar installation and maintenance can shorten it’s service life.   When re-roofing on a solar system, an installation may have to be brought up to current code.  Metal tiles are non-combustible and lightweight, allowing them to replace an asphalt roof.

Energy savings from a metal roof with a “cool roof” can be substantial, see a study on roof thermal performance – http://web.ornl.gov/sci/buildings/2012/2010%20B11%20papers/64_Miller.pdf .   Power Shield tiles have a double lath installation system that increases the above sheath ventilation – saving money in the summer as well as winter, and maximizing solar tile performance.

Net Zero Energy

net-zero-home-DOE             image courtesy of energy.gov

Two strengths of the Power Shield roof system – energy production and energy efficiency, are components in the design of Net Zero Energy Buildings.

Energy is produced through the 16 watts of power per solar tile.   Building Envelope thermal performance (1) is improved through:

Cool Roof coatings on tile keep it cool and improve energy production.  The cool roof coating has high emissivity on the sun side to allow heat to be radiated out, and low emissivity underneath, making the tiles a radiant barrier;

The efficient Above Sheath Ventilation on the tile system provides a chimney effect as warm air flows between the tiles and the roof deck and out from the building.  In winter, the air gap between the tiles and roof deck are insulating, reducing the heat transfer out of the attic.

LEED points are also available from the recycled material in the metal roof and the reduction of the heat island effect.

1.   http://web.ornl.gov/sci/buildings/2012/2010%20B11%20papers/64_Miller.pdf