The award-winning smog-reducing technology that can help improve air quality in residential neighborhoods is now available for the commercial market.

SOPREMA, the global provider of energy-efficient products for the building industry, has incorporated 3M™ Smog-reducing Granules into roofing membranes for commercial buildings in the United States.

That means even more roofs can be turned into smog-fighting surfaces through the use of smog-reducing granules – and with commercial buildings, the impact can be even greater.

While residential roofing shingles use a combination of colored and smog-reducing granules to give homeowners a variety of colors to choose from, the commercially available membranes are coated entirely with smog-reducing granules – meaning there's more smog-reducing capability in each square foot of commercial roofing membrane compared to residential shingles.

How can a roof combat smog?

The smog-reducing granules harness the power of the sun to turn roofing membranes into a pollution-fighting surface. When the sun hits the granules, their photocatalytic coating transforms the smog pollution (nitrogen oxides) into water-soluble ions that safely wash away with rain.

"It's exciting to think about transforming regular roofs into smog-reducing surfaces and the impact it could have on air quality in our communities," said Josh Orman, marketing and strategy manager at 3M. "A core pillar of 3M's vision is to improve lives using science, and smog-reducing technology is a great example of that."

3M's roofing solutions that improve the climate address an important problem. The World Health Organization estimates about seven million people die every year from exposure to fine particulates in polluted air. Forty-three percent of Americans live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association's "State of the Air 2019" report.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory testing validated the photocatalytic materials used in 3M's smog-reducing granules can reduce smog and contribute to cleaner air.

"We view smog-reducing technology, embedded into mainstream roofing materials, as a great step forward in addressing air quality and climate concerns," said Jonathan Parfrey, founder and executive director of Climate Resolve, a U.S. non-profit organization focused on local solutions to global climate change, when the granules were initially launched in 2018.