Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Solar Energy Opportunities in US Industrial Real Estate

Via CBRE, a new report examining solar opportunities in US industrial real estate: While annual U.S. commercial solar installations slowed in the past two years due to pandemic-related disruption in the supply chain, the industry is projected to rebound in the coming years. It is estimated that only around 5% of the market for commercial […]

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Chicken, Fries, and Solar Power

Via Bakersfield’s TurnTo23, a report on a recent decision to install solar panels at a Kentucky Fried Chicken location in Northwest Bakersfield: A local Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurant has updated its drive-through with solar panels. The restaurant, located at the corner of Rosedale Highway and Old Farm Road, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on […]

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JFK Airport’s New Terminal Will Be Powered By Largest Rooftop Solar Array in New York City

Via Business Insider, a report on New York’s JFK airport’s new terminal, which will be powered by a microgrid and the largest rooftop solar array in New York City: A new terminal at New York’s JFK will be partly powered by a microgrid, batteries, and fuel cells. AlphaStruxure, the project developer, said that would produce […]

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Save Public Lands: Put Solar on Walmart!

Via the High Country News, an infographic on the solar power potential of parking lots and big-box roofs: On a sunny day in early December, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland stood on a dais outside the Phoenix exurb of Buckeye, Arizona, where about 3,000 acres of desert had been scraped clean and leveled to make way for […]

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Why Not Cover Ugly Parking Lots With Solar Panels?

Via WIRED, an article on France’s plan to cover swaths of asphalt with photovoltaics to bring renewable energy even closer to urban areas where it’s needed.  Are rooftops next? A BACKLASH AGAINST industrial-size solar farms is brewing. At least 75 big solar projects were vetoed across the United States last year, compared to 19 in 2021. And between January 2021 and […]

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i2Cool: Cooling Paint for Roofs and Buildings

Via China Water Risk, an introduction to a unique company and product: i2Cool which aims to promote a novel energy-free and environmentally friendly passive radiative cooling paint to save energy and assist in decarbonization:  CWR: Thank you Martin for chatting with us. The 2022 summer hit record-breaking temperatures and Hong Kong was not exempt from high temperatures. Could […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As potential uses for building and parking lot roofspace continue to grow, unique opportunities to understand and profit from this trend will emerge. Roof Options is committed to tracking the evolving uses of roof estate – spanning solar power, rainwater harvesting, wind power, gardens & farms, “cooling” sites, advertising, apiculture, and telecom transmission platforms – to help unlock the nascent, complex, and expanding roofspace asset class.

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.”