Roofing materials

A highly reflective granule for use on a roofing and/or siding system to at least partially coat and provide a highly reflective, weather resistant surface coating on the roofing and/or siding system, said granule having a reflectivity of at least about 55%, a hardness of over about 3 Moh's, a porosity of less than about 20%, an opacity of at least about 55%, and an aluminum content of at least about 10 weight percent.

A method of coating highly reflective granules on an adhering surface of roofing or siding to obtain an average resulting reflectivity of at least about 45% comprising:

• a) selecting a plurality of highly reflective granules having an average reflectivity of at least about 55% and an average hardness of over about 3 Moh's;
• and,
• b) applying said granules substantially uniformly on said adhering surface until over about 95% of said adhering surface is covered by said granules.

A roof system comprising a roof substrate at least partially coated with granules to obtain an average resulting reflectivity of at least about 45%, said granules having an average reflectivity of at least about 55% and an average hardness of over about 3 Moh's, said granules covering over about 95% of said roof substrate.