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Mayor encourages greening
of Chicago It’s the first city hall in the United States with a green roof and it comes as no surprise. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has made a public commitment to make Chicago “the most environmentally-friendly city in the world.” In an interview with Axiom News, Mike Berkshire, the city’s green projects director, says there are more than 100 green roofs in Chicago “that I know of” totalling more than a million square feet of space. There are 12 to 15 public buildings with green roofs and one parking garage with a Japanese garden that includes a pond. The Windy City is also home to the Chicago Centre for Green Technology, which houses several organizations and businesses committed to the environment. The centre is open for visitors to learn how green buildings are good for people and the environment. “We have been encouraging green roofs for the past two years and it is a growing movement,” Berkshire says. “The primary reason it is growing is the commitment and leadership of the mayor and administration.” The city has green roof policies with several degrees of incentives for green residential, commercial and institutional buildings, Berkshire explains. “The more green your building is, the more assistance you get from the city.” There is direct financial assistance, land at below-market costs and tax incentives for buildings that meet energy efficiency standards. “We are requiring all builders to build environmentally-responsible buildings,” he says. There is still some hesitation from developers concerned about the cost of a green roof, which can be double the cost of a normal black tar roof, Berkshire admits. The hesitation also stems from “a fear of the unknown,” he says. “We provide demonstration sites and forums and point out the benefits, including that green roofs last twice as long as a normal roof and don’t leak. The two most significant advantages for Chicago are the ability of a green roof to manage storm water and its ability to mitigate the urban heat island effect, Berkshire says. “In Chicago sewage and storm water are mixed in the same sewer system and storm events can lead to extensive flooding,” he says. “But a rooftop garden absorbs and uses rainwater.” The garden on the roof of city hall can retain 75 per cent of a one-inch rainfall before there is any storm water runoff into the sewers, Berkshire says. A rooftop garden absorbs less heat than either a black tar roof or a white reflective roof, keeping buildings cooler in summer and requiring less energy for air conditioning, he says. It gets very hot in downtown Chicago compared to nearby rural areas because of the heat absorbed by buildings, pavement and parking lots, he points out. “I don’t know how aware the general public is about the advantages of green roof technology,” Berkshire says. “But we have received a lot of national press for our city hall roof and we are continuing to stress the importance of being environmentally responsible.” |
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