As the fifth largest green roof in new york city the 5 borough project is not only a key component of the parks commitment to reducing its carbon footprint but it also serves as a way to educate and inspire park staff and patrons as well as supply a resource for peers in the field.
Green roof ny data.
Green roofs provide many social economic and environmental benefits for individuals communities and cities.
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.
Simply put a green roof is one that allows for the growth of vegetation but the process is more involved than plopping down a few potted plants.
The department considers the vegetation layer to mean the layer of a green roof consisting of live plants such as sedum or equally drought resistant and hardy plants spaced so that they cover at least eighty 80 percent of the layer by the compliance period deadline.
Typically a green or living roof is constructed.
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.
Green roof performance data.
During a 10 month monitoring period asla s green roof prevented 27 500 gallons of stormwater nearly 78 percent of all precipitation hitting the roof from flowing into d c s overburdened sewer and stormwater system.
However green roofs cover only one in a thousand buildings across new york city s five boroughs.
Green roofs have vegetation that absorbs rainwater provides insulation and combats the heat island effect where urban environments have higher temperatures than surrounding areas.
Roof produced a 10 percent decrease in building energy use over the winter months.
New york city is home to about 730 buildings with green roofs.