Understanding Future Uses of Roofspace and Defining An Early Path to Profitable Roof Estate Investing
April 21st, 2012
Via EarthTechling, an article on a green roof initiative that also functions as an athletic field:
The term ‘green roof‘ takes on a whole new meaning at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. The university is currently working on construction of a rooftop field atop a parking structure. Luckily for players who use the field, the structure will only rise about one-story off the ground. And thanks to netting strung around the perimeter of the field, they won’t have to worry about loosing soccer or baseballs over the edge and into the abyss.
“This parking facility will contribute further to the greening of the WPI campus, as it will allow removal of most of the parking spaces from the quad and the West Street entrance,” WPI President and CEO Dennis Berkey said in a statement. “Given that the baseball and softball fields are already at a lower elevation than Park Avenue, this single layer of parking will not be visibly obtrusive. We will restore the playing fields on top of the roof deck, almost at street level at the east end.”
Ground is expected to be broken on the $20 million, 534-car parking garage in May. The rooftop field will be used for soccer, softball, field hockey, lacrosse and rugby. And while parking garages are no longer eligible for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, officials say the structure will be built with many sustainable features in mind, including an electric vehicle charging station and a stormwater management system.
This isn’t the first time the school has dabbled in green roofing. In 2008 WPI opened its environmentally conscious, LEED Gold-certified residence hall, East Hall, which features the city of Worcester’s first living green roof. Before that, the university’s admissions and financial aid building became the first to be LEED certified in 2006. On tap for the school is also a sports and recreation building expected to achieve LEED Silver status.
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Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy. Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation. He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”