ConEd Goes Green Roof on Long Island City Learning Center
by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 08.28.08
photo: Con Edison
TreeHugger is all about green roofs on buildings—even taking part in building one—and can't say enough good things about the virtues of energy efficiency and energy conservation. So when Con Edison announced that it installed its first green roof, in an effort to conserve energy and improve air quality, it immediately elicited a big thumbs up from me. Here’s the details:
Cooling Costs, Stormwater Runoff Reduced
Installed on the quarter-acre rooftop of ConEd’s Learning Center in Long Island City, the project’s 21,000 plants are expected to allow the Learning Center to save up to 30% on the cost of cooling the facility at peak hours.
Additionally, the green roof is expected to retain 30-70% of storm water runoff, regulating the flow of water into the city’s drainage system—potentially preventing delays in the subway system caused by flooding and preventing sewage overflows into local waterways.
Columbia University to Analyze Project
This is the first time a green roof has been installed at a Con Edision facility. The project has been done in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research. The project will be used by the university to analyze energy savings, the roof surface temperature, and air quality improvements associated with green roofs.
Great news for ConEd, especially when New York State just announced that it will be providing handing out rewards to utilities which reduce electric demand—as the details of the state plan are not final I’m not sure if it would qualify though.
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Good to see a major NY company doing a green roof. MTA and other large groups need to follow suit and build green roofs on their facilities.