From NYTimes:
The goal: to lower our energy output.
“Right now, the big conversation is around what we can do to combat climate change, and now more than ever, when the federal government is rolling back all the progress we’ve made to reduce our carbon footprint in the country, we have to step up,” Councilman Rafael L. Espinal Jr. of Brooklyn, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in an interview.
“We have to look at the infrastructure improvements we can make here to ensure we’re doing our part in reducing our carbon footprint and cooling our city down.”
Today’s measure would apply to commercial buildings like offices, industrial spaces, manufacturing facilities and storage units; two separate bills, introduced last session by Councilmen Stephen Levin of Brooklyn and Donovan Richards Jr. of Queens, would cover residential homes and community sites like schools, libraries, post offices and medical centers.”
And…
From NYC Parks Green Roof
A project of NYC Parks’ Five Borough
Citywide Operations and Technical Services division
August 2013
A living laboratory for innovative green roof design
“From In May of 2010, Columbia University students helped install a 400 square foot 8” Gaia Soil system for research purposes. Filled with native plants and grasses (American Dittany, Blackeyed Susan, Wavy Hair grass, Globe Flatsedge, Virginia Wild Rye, Slender Goldentop and Switchgrass), this bed started out thin with plant material and has since become densely flourished. Similar systems exist on the tops of ten NYC Parks recreation facilities and are being studied comparatively by Columbia University. This system weighs about 16 pounds per square foot and costs about $10 per square foot.”
“During April and May of 2010, a 4000 square foot vegetable/herb farm was installed on top of 5 Borough in the form of ten 50′ x 6′ wide planting beds. This system has an average depth of 7.5” and its growth medium is composed of 1/3 mineral soil, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 compost/manure. The vegetables were planted 12 inches on center, and include tomatoes, peppers, muskmelons, squash, pumpkins, cabbage, corn, spinach, eggplant and herbs. A bounty of vegetables and herbs have been grown over the last few growing seasons and donated to a local soup kitchen. The average weight is 18 pounds per square foot at a cost of $15 per square foot.”
