by John Engle
Blue-roof implementation is on the rise in the United States and, indeed, around the world. First conceived in 2008, these ROOF assemblies have proved to be an emerging technology that changes the game in densely populated, urban areas like San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York—all large cities with high amounts of impervious surface. (For more on this background, see the online article, “One Roof, Two Roofs, Green Roofs, Blue Roofs.”) What exactly is a blue roof, however, and why should one be specified?
In many ways, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYDEP) led the advancement of blue roofs through a concerted and widespread implementation of the technology. Recognizing the environmental rcs data challenges posed by impervious surfaces, NYDEP began to proactively test blue-roof concepts in 2010. The pilot project continues to test both blue and green (i.e. vegetated) technologies on rooftops such as that of PS 118, an elementary school in Queens.
area on existing school and municipal rooftops to help collect and distribute excess stormwater through both passive and active rainwater collection techniques. As rooftop hard surfaces account for approximately 10 to 20 percent of Manhattan’s overall built surface area, these projects take underutilized portions of the city rooftops and employ them for a better purpose.
The initiative takes advantage of the unused
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