Our building has a flat roof membrane which is specified to comply with all requirements of this Credit. However, as part of our approval process the County also required, purely for aesthetics, a free-standing curved roof canopy which stands over some mechanical equipment but which mainly stands over and actually shades much (~40%) of the actual roof membrane. This curved roof canopy system does not directly connect to the building envelope except at its column bases and has a free flow of air between it and the roof membrane. As such, our question is whether this freestanding curved roof canopy material (which is currently specified as painted metal, but which may also be a membrane material) must be counted in the 75% of available roof area required by this Credit to achieve both Energy Star reflectance criteria (which it actually does) and emissivity (for which it has not been tested using ASTM E408).
The canopy is effectively part of the roofing system as it relates to reflectivity and should be included in calculations for this credit. Please refer to SSc7.2 CIR ruling dated 3/11/2003 for further guidance. Applicable Internationally.