You may notice that some of your neighbors roofs have several box vents at the top (commonly referred to as turtle vents) while others have a ridge on the top that can be made of exposed metal or covered with shingles (Ridge vents).  Many homeowners prefer the aesthetic appeal of ridge vents over turtle vents, but ridge vents have several additional functional benefits as well.
Energy Savings
Both ridge and turtle vents act as exhaust for your roof.  As the sun heats the air inside of your attic, hot air rises to the top.  Your soffits, or the vents that are typically located under your gutters, allow cool air from outside to be sucked into your attic as hot air escapes out of your vents on the top, keeping your house cool in the summer.
Turtle vents are what’s known as a “passive” ventilation system, meaning that the only thing that the only force moving air through your attic is the tendency for hot air to rise.  Turtle vents typically circulates air 4 to 5 times per hour.  Ridge vents, on the other hand, are an “active” ventilation system.  Wind blowing over your roof at 4 m.p.h. Or more will create a low pressure effect, like an airplane wing, and actually sucks the hot air out of your attic.  This causes the air to circulate 7-8 times per hour.
Many homeowners living in two story homes have a second story that is uncomfortably hot in the summer, even when the air conditioning is keeping the first story uncomfortably cold.  Most of the time, this is caused by the heat coming from a poorly ventilated attic.  The solution is to insure you have both proper insulation and proper ventilation.  But many of our customers have found that the problem is greatly improved just by upgrading from turtle to ridge vents.