The Cool Roof Rating Council Explained: How Reflectance Ratings Actually Work

Quick answer: The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1998, that develops and administers standardized testing and rating methods for roofing products’ solar reflectance and thermal emittance — the two properties that together determine how much heat a roof surface absorbs versus reflects, as covered in our companion piece on the building science behind roof color and attic temperature. CRRC isn’t the same thing as ENERGY STAR, though the two programs are closely related: CRRC has long served as an EPA-recognized certification body for ENERGY STAR roofing products, but EPA discontinued its ENERGY STAR roofing certification program entirely on June 1, 2022, meaning CRRC’s own independent rating and product directory system has effectively become the primary public reference point for roofing product reflectance and emittance data today.

What CRRC Actually Does, and How It Differs From ENERGY STAR

CRRC’s core mission, as stated in its own founding purpose, is to develop fair, accurate, and credible methods for evaluating and labeling the radiative properties of roofing and, since 2019, exterior wall products as well (with paving products added to CRRC’s scope in 2024). This distinction between CRRC and ENERGY STAR matters directly: CRRC is fundamentally a rating and measurement methodology organization, providing standardized, independently verified data about a specific product’s actual reflectance and emittance properties, while ENERGY STAR, when its roofing certification program still existed, used pass/fail efficiency thresholds built on top of data from rating bodies like CRRC to determine which specific products earned the ENERGY STAR label. With ENERGY STAR’s roofing certification program now discontinued, CRRC’s own rating and directory system — providing detailed, specific reflectance and emittance figures for individual products rather than a simple pass/fail label — has become the practical, current standard reference for anyone evaluating a roofing product’s actual measured heat-rejection performance.

The Testing and Rating Methodology CRRC Uses

CRRC’s rating process tests two distinct properties using recognized ASTM standard test methods: solar reflectance, measured using ASTM C1549, E1918, E903, or CRRC’s own Method #1, and thermal emittance, measured using ASTM C1371 or the Slide Method — both properties tested by accredited independent test laboratories rather than by the manufacturer itself, ensuring the resulting ratings reflect genuinely independent, third-party verification rather than manufacturer self-reported figures. CRRC’s rating system produces two distinct sets of figures for each rated product: an “initial” rating based on laboratory testing of a new, unweathered sample, and a separate “aged” rating obtained after the product undergoes three years of actual outdoor weathering at one of CRRC’s approved test farm locations (in Arizona, Ohio, and Florida, representing genuinely different climate exposure conditions), followed by retesting. This aged rating matters considerably in practice, since most roofing products’ reflectance and emittance properties degrade somewhat over time as the material weathers, meaning the initial, brand-new rating alone doesn’t fully represent how that product will actually perform after years of real-world outdoor exposure.

How to Search the CRRC Rated Products Directory

CRRC maintains a publicly searchable Rated Products Directory, accessible directly through its website, that allows anyone — a homeowner, contractor, architect, or code official — to search for specific roofing products using keyword search along with filters for product type, color, manufacturer, roof slope category (low-slope or steep-slope), product market, and minimum solar reflectance, thermal emittance, or SRI thresholds for either the initial or aged rating category. Search results can be sorted by CRRC product ID, manufacturer name, or the date a product was added to the directory, making it a genuinely practical tool for directly comparing specific competing products’ actual measured performance data side by side, rather than relying solely on manufacturer marketing claims about a given product’s energy performance.

Why Some Energy Codes Reference CRRC Ratings Specifically

California’s Title 24 energy code, at Section 10-113, explicitly requires that roofing products used to demonstrate code compliance be CRRC-rated, effectively designating CRRC as the state’s recognized third-party verification standard for roofing reflectance and emittance data. This kind of explicit code reference reflects CRRC’s specific value proposition to code officials and energy program administrators: its aged-rating methodology and standardized, independently verified test data provide a durable, product-specific dataset that remained available and current even after ENERGY STAR’s roofing certification program was discontinued in 2022, giving codes and programs a continuing, reliable source of verified product performance data rather than depending on a certification program that’s no longer being maintained.

How a Manufacturer Gets a Product Listed With CRRC

The process for a manufacturer to get a roofing product listed in CRRC’s directory involves several distinct steps: first becoming a CRRC Licensee, then applying through CRRC’s online rating portal, preparing multiple product specimens (nine specimens drawn from two separate production batches, per CRRC’s stated requirements) for testing, having those specimens tested at a CRRC-accredited independent test laboratory, and arranging the three-year outdoor weathering process at an approved test farm described above. Initial test results post to the directory relatively quickly, with the aged rating marked as pending until the full three-year weathering and retesting process completes; manufacturers also pay a rating application fee (documented at $260 per product) and can optionally pay an additional fee for CRRC’s “Rapid Ratings” service, which provides interim, lab-simulated aged values before the full three-year outdoor test farm results become available. Manufacturers must also sign a Rated Products Logo License Agreement and participate in CRRC’s ongoing validation testing program to maintain their product’s listing over time, ensuring the directory’s data continues reflecting genuinely verified, current product performance rather than a one-time snapshot that’s never revisited.

Why This Independent Verification Process Matters for Homeowners and Contractors

Understanding CRRC’s actual role and methodology helps explain why its rated product data carries genuine practical credibility beyond a simple marketing claim: because CRRC ratings come from accredited independent testing rather than manufacturer self-reporting, and because the aged-rating requirement specifically accounts for real-world weathering rather than relying solely on a brand-new product’s initial performance, a homeowner or contractor selecting a roofing product based on CRRC directory data is working from a genuinely verified, standardized dataset rather than relying on unverified manufacturer marketing claims about a given product’s energy performance and durability of that performance over time.

How CRRC’s 2019 and 2024 Scope Expansions Reflect a Broader Industry Trend

CRRC’s expansion beyond roofing products alone — adding exterior wall products to its rating scope in 2019 and paving products in 2024 — reflects a broader, ongoing trend in building science and energy policy toward treating a building’s entire exterior envelope, not just its roof, as a coordinated system for managing solar heat gain and overall energy performance. This mirrors a pattern seen elsewhere in this series, including the vapor barrier and vapor retarder discussion in our companion piece, where a building’s various envelope components increasingly get evaluated and specified as an integrated system rather than as isolated, independently considered decisions. A homeowner or builder working on a comprehensive energy-efficiency project today can, in principle, use CRRC’s expanded rating scope to make more coordinated decisions about roofing, wall cladding, and even paved surface reflectance together, rather than treating each as a separate decision made in isolation from the others.

Other Questions People Ask

Does every roofing product need a CRRC rating?

No — CRRC rating is generally relevant specifically when energy code compliance, a specific reflectance or emittance requirement, or a utility incentive program requires documented, verified reflectance and emittance data; many standard roofing products aren’t CRRC-rated simply because that level of documentation isn’t required for their typical use case or market.

Is a higher SRI rating always better regardless of climate?

Not necessarily — as covered in our companion piece on roof color and attic temperature, the practical energy benefit from a high-SRI product depends considerably on climate and attic ventilation conditions, meaning a high SRI rating delivers the most practical value specifically in hot, sun-intensive climates with less effective attic ventilation.

Can a homeowner request CRRC testing for a specific product themselves?

CRRC’s rating process is designed around manufacturer participation (a manufacturer submitting its own product for testing and listing), rather than individual homeowner-initiated testing requests, so a homeowner interested in a specific product’s CRRC rating should check the CRRC directory directly or ask the manufacturer whether that product is currently CRRC-rated.

People Also Ask

What is the Cool Roof Rating Council?

A nonprofit organization, founded in 1998, that develops standardized testing and rating methods for roofing (and now wall and paving) products’ solar reflectance and thermal emittance properties.

How are cool roof products tested and rated?

Through accredited independent laboratory testing of solar reflectance and thermal emittance, producing both an initial rating and, after three years of outdoor weathering at an approved test farm, a separate aged rating.

Is CRRC the same as ENERGY STAR for roofing?

No — CRRC provides the underlying rating methodology and data, and historically served as an ENERGY STAR certification body, but EPA discontinued ENERGY STAR’s roofing certification program entirely in June 2022, making CRRC’s own directory the current primary reference.

Sources

• Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC), program documentation and Rated Products Directory
• U.S. EPA, ENERGY STAR roofing program sunset documentation

This page could not fully verify the specific rationale behind every energy code’s choice to reference CRRC ratings versus other standards (such as ASHRAE 90.1); California’s Title 24 requirement is directly confirmed, but broader code-by-code reasoning should be verified against your specific local code. Last updated September 2026.