Toronto may become the first city in North America to have a mandatory green roof by-law.
City officials will vote next month on Mayor David Miller's green roof proposal. The proposal calls for mandatory installations of green roofs on certain new developments whose gross floor area exceeds 54,000 feet. Accordingly to the plan, a green roof would cover 30%-60% the total roofing area, depending on the size of the building. Certain structures would be exempt from the by-law's mandate, and these are: schools, industrial structures, low income housing, and small apartment buildings.
Developers are opposed to the initiative, but as Steven Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities highlights: "if you’re a developer of new buildings and you’re not embracing the rising tide of green building opportunities, you’ll be left behind.”
Read the full story at the New York Times: Toronto Mulls Mandatory Green Roofs
Nathanael Baker is the Managing Editor of EnergyBoom. He has researched and reported on the issues of renewable energy, sustainability, and climate change for over two years. He has provided research to the New York Times and The Economist, as well as being published on different media outlets including, The Energy Collective.
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