New York's Climate-Friendly Rooftops Showcased In Climate Desk Video

Take an interactive journey across New York's climate-friendly rooftops with Climate Desk, a journalistic collaboration between The Atlantic, CIR, Grist, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Slate, Wired & PBS. Scroll down to check out Climate Desk photos from the project.

WATCH:




PHOTOS (courtesy of Climate Desk):

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• Chris Page, a solar installer, tightening the bolts of Aeon Solar's latest project. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• Aeon Solar installation - one of the biggest in NYC - being built on low-income housing near JFK airport. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• Aeon Solar has installed over 100 systems in half a decade. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• A gardener for Greensulate, tending to the green roof atop St Regis High School in Manhattan. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• Danielle Grillo helps run NYC CoolRoofs a project that wants to coat one million square feet of New York's rooftops white each year. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• Coating a rooftop in Long Island, with Andrew Sutherland from Great White Coatings. Credit: James West, Climate Desk

• Chris Page, an installer with Aeon Solar Credit: James West, Climate Desk

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Comments

[ennui the third]

06:44 PM on 06/10/2012

The rich and their rooftops.

[Easyrawlins1]

12:51 PM on 06/10/2012

When they talk about infrastructure spending this is one of the things that we should be investing in. The constant drone about deficits when we could be reducing our energy costs, and needs while putting people back to work, creating jobs, and lowering our deficit to our collective benefit shows how far off the tracks the right has gotten.

[Bolkonsky]

09:48 PM on 06/09/2012

I painted an 1800sf flat roof white over the Memorial Day weekend. Used Henry 287 white roof coating. The results are amazing. Transformed an unairconditioned warehouse from oven-hot, to tolerably cool. Covered dark roll roofing in a single coat, applied with a push broom, goes on like pancake batter, and dries quickly. Excellent product, and it's not even their top of the line, but it's what was available locally. That white is not the default color of all roofs in hot sunny climates, is a testament to our total abject wasteful idiocracy.

[ginadeoliveira2008]

03:20 PM on 06/10/2012

Good job! Must be beautiful besides cool.

[Bolkonsky]

10:54 AM on 06/11/2012

Thanks - it does look spiffy (Although white will lose its luster and require more maintenance if you want to keep it to that new standard. Fortunately this roof isn't even visible to anything but Googlemaps), and i can't overstate how effective it is at reflecting radiant heat. As soon as the first small section was covered, you could feel the difference beneath that area. Even though it's elementary physics, its still amazing to experience. Shame on all architects who willfully ignore this in favor of guzzling power.

During the painting i kept thinking about Steven Chu's 'white roof' idea, and why couldn't an army of workers be employed to do this job across the nation ? It definitely works, the benefits are immediate and substantial, and it could employ thousands (including the upkeep). But the notion never seems to move past "talk".

That, and being Memorial Day - it seemed a fitting tribute to all those who have died, and will die fighting needless resource wars.

[Scott Howes]

06:47 PM on 06/09/2012

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[Angus R]

09:34 PM on 06/08/2012

Here is a different twist on this story. The solar panels capture light and convert it to electricity. The white paint reflects the heat ( and light back upwards) into the sky. We need research on ways to have a hybrid solar collector. Combine the existing technology of PV with direct conversion of heat waves directly into electricity. Not only would buildings be cooled but energy would be captured from the heat as well as the light thus reducing cooling costs and increasing electricity generation. The federal government in USA should vigorously fund this concept.

[ThinkCreeps]

04:33 AM on 06/09/2012

You are aware of solar thermal collectors?

"Heat waves" can't be converted into electricity. The bandgap is not sufficient. Thermal excitations in the devices prevent any energy being extracted. You could cryogenically cool your solar panel and do it, but that would defeat the point.

[Angus R]

06:01 AM on 06/09/2012

I am aware of solar collectors that collect the heat and redistribute it else where. What I am advocating is more research into the area of converting heat waves directly into electricity. The amount of energy in heat is ultimately what drives steam turbines as an example but it is highly inefficient. If we were to look at direct conversion for the heat of the sun, there may be something there in the research we have overlooked.

[Thomas Pain]

07:41 PM on 06/08/2012

WHITE IS COOL. SHADE IS COOL.

Anybody who can see and feel has long known that shade is cooler than direct sunlight, and white is cooler than black and other dark colors (it reflects more light and heat), this is the stuff of elementary school physics. So why do we persist in making buildings with dark roofs? This should have been a no-brainer long ago. White roofs cut down on heating costs. Shading the roof with solar panels or anything else cuts down on cooling costs. Wanna cut energy use? Require all new construction with white or light colored roofs. Require all new construction to include enough solar energy capacity to power the building, if that is feasible, or to generate as much of the building's electrical consumption as possible, if it is not.

Offer a 100% Federal income tax credit for the cost of installing solar and wind power for any residence or business, and for the cost of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, controllers, etc., the hardware, manufactured in the US.

[artleads]

09:26 PM on 06/08/2012

Good ideas...and, yes, they are obvious solutions to cooling (and heating, in case of solar, which provides energy to do both). What surprises me is the absence of roof gardens. These benefit wildlife, provide cooling and insulation...and food! There is often the economic value of commercial rooftop-farming, which prevents the destruction caused by large-scale agriculture on land.

[CateManhattan]

09:28 PM on 06/09/2012

I've had several roof gardens . . . within a year the buildings have forced us to remove them.

Three problems - - - but none of the three were a problem in the gardens I designed:
1. Excess load, including live load: soil traps water which is heavy, and people walking exerts extra load.
2. Windage and blowoffs.
3. Roof punctures.

I set up distributed pots, narrow paths to reduce weight concentrations, light soil mixes, tie downs and surface protection. The building owners just didn't like anything that didn't give them money.

[ThinkCreeps]

04:34 AM on 06/09/2012

Don't use batteries in renewable energy systems, unless you have no grid connection.