How metal raises the bar for sustainability

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin says sustainability is a significant advantage of using metal roofing.

As the digital world continues to grow more expansive and harder to navigate, it can be hard to find the reliable advice you're looking for. That's just one of the reasons MetalCoffeeShop™ wanted to bring together experts in the field to one digital space to share their expertise and insights. This group, the MCS Influencers, are all trusted sources of advice with perspective on both the past and future of the industry. To help prompt conversation, we send members of this group a prompt every month and for April we asked about how contractors can use sustainability in their business and sales.

One of our amazing MCS Influencers, Jerry Iselin, responded to this prompt. Jerry's been a part of the industry for over 45 years. By the mid-1980s he had made his way to the position of general manager and vice president for an international firm managing both facilities and activities in the Pacific Northwest. He can often be found participating in industry events such as being a speaker at Metalcon and teacher at the International Roofing Expo. This is not the limit of his efforts to help others in the industry, he has worked with the Roofing Industry Educational Institute (RIEI) and Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) as a resource and reviewer. In 2016 he was honored through an induction into the Metal Construction Hall of Fame.

Jerry had this to say about sustainability in the industry:

"Sustainability is a significant advantage of using metal roofing and contractors should be well versed in the benefits. In a nutshell here are some of those benefits:

• Metal roofing is fully recyclable and is made from recycled materials in various percentages based on the specific materials and manufacturer.
• Metal roofing can often be installed over existing materials relieving landfills from the disposal of old roofing. Leaving old roofing on where applicable also provides for additional vapor barriers and possibly slight insulation benefits.
• Metal roofing is more reflective than other materials minimizing heat retention and heat gain. This can significantly reduce cooling costs and in some cases provide the benefit of radiant heat retention.
• Metal can be used to collect rain water for irrigation and in some cases drinking water saving our water resources.
• Metal is also fire resistant protecting property and risk to human life while protecting valuable resources.

I am sure there are more but this list is pretty unique to metal."