Yesterday, an army of over 100 energetic young New Yorkers painted the roofs of an entire city block with white solar reflective paint to cool buidling's temperatures, thereby reducing heat island effect and the utility bills of residents.
White Roof Project approached FAB (Fourth Arts Block- 4th St between 2nd and Bowery) months ago with an enticing propsal: they would provide the materials and the labor to transform an entire block of low income housing into a model for urban sustainability. After much coordination, 20 buildings on the block (for a total of approximately 30,000 sq ft) were set to be coated.
For the largest endeavor White Roof Project has ever undertaken, they enlisted the help of NYC Cool Roofs, their partner Green City Force, and, of course, lots of enthusiastic volunteers. Sunday's efforts got rained out, but Monday turned out to be an ideal day for roof painting, with clear blue skys and even a cool breeze. Volunteers (myself among them) quickly learned that creating a white roof is not nearly as daunting as it sounds (or anywhere near as overwhelming and technical as creating a green roof). We coated the roof's existing tar paper with the same paint rollers you use when you redecorate your bedroom using buckets of white Roof Xtender solar reflective paint, starting by coating the edges by hand using, again, the same standard paint brushes you can get from Home Depot. Monday's workers only did the first coat; a second coat is needed to give enough mass to the paint that it will really reduce temperatures inside the building.
I was surprised to find that the building my team coated was silver- not black. I'm used to seeing roofs covered in black tar paper, and that's what I expected to find. The black tar paper on our roof (used in construction for its water- repellng and sealing qualities) had already been painted with a silver paint to do exactly what we were trying to do better: reduce heat absorbtion. This silver paint does help, but being a single coat of paint rather than a thick solar reflective substance, it can only lower temperatures a few degrees, not by the significant percentange that Roof Xtender and similar products can. Team members kept explaining to volunteers that on a 90 degree day a black roof's average temperature is 180 degrees, while one coated in white is only 100. New building codes require that all newly constructed or renovated roofs be covered in the silver paint I saw. White Roof Project, Cool Roofs and Green City Force staffs are waiting (and working) for the code to require white.
The buildings on 4th St are small walk up buildings with roofs that require only a small team and can be covered in a matter of hours. Teams of two or three volunteers were assigned to a building, headed by a Cool Roofs or Green City Force staff member. White Roof Project turned to these organizations for support due to the logistical hassle of just getting on the roof. To put volunteers on a city rooftop requires keys to the building, access to often locked and alarmed roofs, permission from the building's super/maintenance team, and steep insurance. White Roof Project amassed volunteers, coordinated with FAB and its buildings, and did extensive fundraising for supplies, but the legal supervision and insurance necessary to make the project possible.
NYC Cool Roofs is an initiative of the NYC Department of Buildings, and therefore has a larger operating budget than White Roof Project, a non profit. They hire and train their staff according to OSHA and clear them in safety knowledge before letting them supervise volunteers. Green City Force is a service corps that provides green job training and experience to urban low income and minority young adults. They were professional leaders and accomplished workers on Monday, leading volunteers and working hard to finish painting roofs when volunteers opted for extended water breaks.
While this was White Roof Project's largest undertaking, they've had phenomenal success in their other efforts. Founder Juan Carlos expressed awe at the speed with which the Project gained attention and eager responses from both the public and the press. He explained that the overwhelming volume of requests they get to coat roofs is far more than they can coordinate at once, and he urged interested parties to consider speaking with their supers and tackling the project themselves. A filmmaker by day and activist by other parts of the day, Juan Carlos first imagined White Roof Project at a Manhattan Young Democrats event during a discussion about climate change. He was inspired to action by the void of non profits working to paint roofs white.
White Roof Project's first roof was that of the Bowery mission, and all involved expressed how exciting it was to make an immediate tangible difference. That has been the running reaction from volunteers, many who return for additional projects as leaders, bringing teams of volunteers from their office, church or community club. I experienced the same sense of satisfaction as previous volunteers; it was refreshing to see the immediate fruits of my labor and know that what I'd spent the day doing would positively impact others. Painting roofs white is more treating the symptoms rather than the cause of climate change, but reducing builidng temperatures does require less energy use for cooling, therefore indirectly reducing the amount of emissions from energy plants. It's a small step, but it's an important one. The more white roofs the bigger the change.
All day long White Roof Project expressed profuse thanks to Allied Building Supplies (from whom White Roof Project purchased the paint after relentless fundraising), for donating all the brushes and rollers and painting supplies, withoutwhich the project would not have been possible.
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