NYC's Roofs Are Getting A Sustainable Makeover
It's been two months since New York's Sustainable Roof Laws,
part of the Climate Mobilization Act, took effect.
Now architects and officials must decide:
Are green roof systems or solar systems best?
AUTHOR: Cailley LaPara
Jan. 22, 2020
While the buzz around the passage of New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act in April 2019 has fizzled, the city’s public officials, property owners, architects, real estate moguls, and financiers are revving up to put new policies into practice.
As of Nov. 15, 2019, Local Laws 92 and 94 are in effect to target a vast, often overlooked and underutilized resource in New York: roofs.
The laws, known informally as the Sustainable Roof Laws, require most new buildings and buildings undergoing major roof reconstruction to include a sustainable roofing zone on 100% of the available roof space.
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Sustainable roofing zones are defined as "areas of a roof assembly where a solar photovoltaic electricity generating system, a green roof system, or a combination thereof, is installed." In other words, the roofs must have a solar panel array, green roof or both.
"When you fly into New York City, you see an amazing amount of unproductive roof space," Jonce Walker, senior associate at Thornton Tomasetti, told Smart Cities Dive. Walker and others in the sustainable design community hope Local Laws 92 and 94 are going to change that.
Facing change
The Sustainable Roofs Laws have mobilized several sectors in New York City, from the government to investment, each one grappling with how to manage new regulations designed to drive drastic changes in the city.
"The goal [of Local Laws 92 & 94] is to make sustainable roofs just one of the parts of how you put a good building together," Mark Chambers, director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, told Smart Cities Dive.
Currently, sustainable roofs are far from the norm in New York. According to a mapping project from The Nature Conservancy, there were only about 730 green roofs out of over 1 million rooftops in New York City in 2016.
Solar is much more prevalent, with a total of about 22,000 completed solar projects throughout the city as of 2019, according to the team at Sustainable CUNY. They indicate the number of new solar projects implemented each year in the city has increased dramatically since 2016, due in part to the establishment of Professional Certification (Pro-Cert), which shortened the review period of new solar projects to just 24 hours.
Solar growth in New York City. | Credit: Sustainable CUNY
Not all property owners will be immediately faced with the required adjustments. Buildings dedicated to affordable housing have an alternative compliance timeline of five years during which the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will conduct studies on the impact of the law on affordability.
But Jennifer Leone, sustainability officer at HPD, pointed out that the department has "already been leading the charge" when it comes to sustainable roof practices with programs like the Green Housing Preservation Program.
Lead Photo: Credit: Alex Potemkin vis Getty Images