How a White or Green Roof Can Keep Your Building Up to 84% Cooler This Summer  

Inhabitat has a look at the effect habving a white or green roof can have on urban temperatures - How a White or Green Roof Can Keep Your Building Up to 84% Cooler This Summer

The benefits of white and green roofs are nothing new to us, but a recent study by two top NYC universities has shed light on just how effective these non-traditional roofs can be at lowering building temperatures. Non-reflective dark roofs are known to exacerbate the urban heat island effect and do absolutely nothing to reduce storm water runoff, which is why New York City sewers overflow almost every time it rains. But a recent study released by Columbia University and City University of New York has found that greening NYC rooftops or adding a few coats of white paint can reduce temperatures by as much as 84%! ...

In order to ascertain the real benefits of greening or whitewashing city rooftops, researchers studied three different roof surface treatments at the Con Edison Learning Center in Queens: a green roof, a dark roof and a white roof. Measurements on each one showed that on average the white roof was about 30 degrees fahrenheit cooler than the dark roof, while the planted sedum roof was a whopping 60 degrees cooler! NYC is working towards applying white paint to one million square feet of rooftop a year in order to reduce those draining summertime highs, but city dwellers can do their part by taking the initiative as well.