Whether you’re trying to build a more environmentally conscious home from the ground up, or you’re looking at a potential roof replacement, it’s getting more common for homeowners to consider whether or not they’re making the most eco-friendly choices with their home. This includes their choice of roof materials.
Asphalt shingles have been one of the most popular roofing materials in North America for decades now. They’re widely used because they’re affordable, durable, and easy to install. However, if you’re becoming more environmentally aware, like many, you may be questioning the ecological impact of these materials, as well.
While asphalt shingles have a wide range of benefits, they do come with a significant environmental cost, with concerns being raised about the resources extracted to make them, their manufacturing process, waste disposal, and energy inefficiency.
Here, we’re going to look at the overall environmental impact of asphalt shingles, as well as the alternatives that might prove more sustainable.
Raw Material Extraction And Production
If you want a full picture of the environmental cost of asphalt shingles, then you have to start with the very beginning of their production: the raw materials that make up their different components. These components include asphalt, fiberglass/organic felt, and mineral granules. Each of these materials comes with its own environmental footprint.
Asphalt
This material is made as a byproduct of petroleum refining. Asphalt is a product made from non-renewable fossil fuels, and the extraction and processing of crude oil (which produces asphalt) is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and habitat destruction across the globe.
Fiberglass Mat
A lot of modern asphalt shingles use a fiberglass base. Fiberglass is made from silica sand that is mind and then melted at high temperatures to form glass fibers. The biggest ecological concern with this is the significant amounts of energy used to produce it.
Mineral Granules
These granules are applied to the surface of asphalt. While the crushed rock and ceramic materials are made from organic sources, the mining and transportation processes can be resource-intensive.
Furthermore, the production process of asphalt shingles can also involve high-temperature operations, releasing byproducts like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and greenhouse gases, which pollute the atmosphere.
Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint
As well as originating from fossil fuels as a material, asphalt shingle production also largely relies on fossil fuels due to its energy-intensive manufacturing processes, transportation, and installation.
What’s more, asphalt shingles contribute to what is known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect, meaning they absorb and retain heat rather than reflect this. This means that buildings with asphalt shingles have to spend more money to cool them down, spending more energy and increasing their carbon emissions as a result.
Waste Generation and Landfill Issues
Perhaps the biggest problem with asphalt shingles from an environmental perspective is the sheer amount of waste they produce and how to dispose of it. An asphalt shingle roof has a lifespan of roughly 20 to 30 years, which isn’t bad for a roof. However, when they have to be replaced, they are not often renewed or recycled. In the US alone, millions of tons of asphalt shingles are discarded every single year, and a significant portion of this ends up in landfills.
Landfill Space
Asphalt shingles are not biodegradable. They can take decades if not centuries to break down. As such, they have become a major contributor to landfill, which is a growing environmental concern. Landfills take up valuable space and may also leach chemicals into their surrounding environments.
Toxic Runoff
As shingles do eventually break down, they may release harmful substances into the soil and water supply. One such substance is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic compounds that can cause cancer and other health effects by entering into the food chain through environmental contamination.
A Lack Of Recycling Efforts
Some asphalt shingles do get repurposed for road construction or asphalt pavement, helping reduce their long-term environmental cost. However, recycling programs are limited at the moment, and the majority of used shingles will end up as waste as a result.
Impact On Water Quality
Roofing materials contribute to water runoff quality. After all, when the rain falls, a lot of water hits the roof, before being directed down the drains and away from the home. The petroleum-based compounds in asphalt shingles can leach into rainwater, leading to pollution. This can end up carrying harmful chemicals into the local waterways. Not only can this potentially contaminate drinking water sources, but it may end up affecting aquatic ecosystems, too.
Durability And Replacement Frequency
While asphalt shingles do have a decent lifespan as a roofing material, they do have a relatively short life compared to some other materials, such as metal. What’s more, while they are durable, shingles are prone to damage from extreme weather, like high winds, hail, and prolonged exposure to the sun. As such, this can result in you having to replace them on a more regular basis, which means increased material production, transportation emissions, and waste accumulation over time.
Are Asphalt Shingles Bad For The Environment
Overall, when looking at the various factors that go into their production, installation, and waste, asphalt shingles do raise a lot of environmental concerns. The high uses of fossil fuels, landfill waste contributions, and impact on air and water quality are all worth consideration.
However, there are some steps being taken to improve the sustainability of asphalt shingles and to make them more environmentally friendly. This includes steps like:
- Asphalt Shingle Recycling: Some companies are now producing shingles that are made from recycled materials, which reduces the demand for new petroleum and raw materials, and reduces the overall carbon footprint of each shingle.
- Cool Roof Shingles: The spread of cool roof technology, using reflective coatings or lighting colors, allows for shingles that have reduced heat absorption. As such, this can reduce cooling costs for the building they are installed on, mitigating the urban heat island effect.
- Increasing Recycling Efforts: While they still aren’t as widely available as many would want, shingle recycling programs are expanding and may eventually play a role in significantly reducing landfill waste. Reclaimed asphalt shingles can be repurposed into asphalt pavement, providing a second life for roofing materials and reducing the demand for new raw materials.
Change in the world of asphalt shingles is still slow, and some of the technologies involved may make the shingles themselves less cost-effective. However, it is important to acknowledge the efforts being made in the industry to address growing environmental concerns.
Are There Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Asphalt Shingles?
If you, like many homeowners and builders, are concerned about the environmental concerns associated with asphalt shingles, you may want to look at some of the more sustainable roofing options available. Thankfully, there is a wide selection of materials that have a lower ecological impact, offering greater longevity and recycling options. Here are a few of them:
Metal Roofing
Metal roofs are one of the most eco-friendly, not to mention cost-effective roofing materials on the market. While installation costs may be higher, they last much longer than asphalt shingles, with a lifespan of 40 to 70 years on average.
Metal roofs aren’t produced from fossil fuels, and are much more energy efficient when installed, as they reflect solar radiation naturally, reducing your cooling costs. Measures like light color paints can be used to make them even more reflective, too.
Many metal roofs are made from recycled materials, and are fully recyclable at the end of their lifespan, as well. This factor, combined with their longer lifespan and the resulting less frequent replacement reduces the overall waste associated with them.
Clay And Concrete Tiles
These tiles, produced from natural mineral resources, may require a little more fossil fuels to be produced, but they can last over 50 years with minimal maintenance. While not as long as some of the better metal roofs, this is still longer than asphalt shingles.
What’s more, clay and concrete tiles both offer excellent thermal insulation properties, which can help keep indoor temperatures stable.
Slate Roofing
Made from natural stone, with no synthetic chemicals at all, slate roofing is natural and non-toxic. What’s more, it offers extremely high levels of durability, with a lifespan of 75 to more than a hundred years.
They are still susceptible to damage from the weather, but they rarely need replacement, otherwise, which means minimal waste and reduced long-term environmental impact.
Should You Choose An Alternative To Asphalt Shingles?
Every roofing material comes with its pros and cons. However, when it comes to a choice that is just as (or even more) reliable and effective as asphalt shingles, but with many fewer environmental concerns, metal roofing might be the best alternative.
Beyond their lower environmental cost and ability to be recycled, the benefits they offer the home, like a longer lifespan and more cost-effectiveness, are making them a more popular option than ever. If you want to learn more, get in touch with RPS today and we can help you find the roofing that best suits your needs.