More recently the new york city council passed a suite of measures to reduce greenhouse gases including a requirement for green roofs solar panels or a combination of both on newly constructed.
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Recent installations include silvercup studios in long island city with a 35 000 square foot extensive roof with funding assistance from the queens clean air project.
Green roof performance data roof produced a 10 percent decrease in building energy use over the winter months.
However green roofs cover only one in a thousand buildings across new york city s five boroughs.
Green roofs or rooftop solar panels add additional load to a roof and its support system.
It s a great start but represents just 60 acres of the 40 000 acres of rooftop space available or less than 0 1 of nyc s 1 million buildings.
Green roofs provide many social economic and environmental benefits for individuals communities and cities.
Green planted roofs are gradually appearing in new york city sponsored by community groups environmental organizations institutions and private developers.
The existing roof may not be capable of supporting an additional load.
So there s room to grow quite literally.
Green roofs have vegetation that absorbs rainwater provides insulation and combats the heat island effect where urban environments have higher temperatures than surrounding areas.
To ensure structural safety it s necessary to have a structural analysis verify that the roof and its support system are capable of supporting the added load without modification.
Because a green roof will add substantial weight to a building s structure you must hire a professional engineer or registered architect to perform a structural analysis to determine if the existing roof and its support system can hold the added load without a modification.
The temperature on the green roof on the hottest summer days can be as much as 59 degrees cooler than conventional roofs on neighboring buildings.
In the winter green roofs insulate the upper floors of buildings and in the summer they cool buildings through shading and the process of evapotranspiration by plants.
New york city is home to about 730 buildings with green roofs.