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Chicago's Green and Garden Roofing Codes and Technologyq

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Abstract
Chicago has experienced rapid growth for all types of green roof system technologies. Chicago's Urban Heat Island Effect, which adapted the 2009 Chicago Energy Code, has brought demand for lighter-colored green roofs, vegetative green roofs, and photovoltaic or solar thermal green roofs. The Chicago Roofing Contractors Association (CRCA) and the city of Chicago used research from Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress to maximize building owner roofing choices for green roof systems —from vegetative, light-colored coatings to even gravel and ballast green roof systems as surfacing to make roofs green. The code was intended to reduce heat islands by eliminating black roofs over time in Chicago. For roofs on older buildings, the Chicago Energy Code provides options for building owners and managers to comply. It also offers an opportunity for building owners and managers to use the “green on the top” to market buildings. All these actions continue to foster “cooler topped” roof systems in Chicago and beyond. This paper and presentation focuses on the code requirements in Chicago, history and the resulting issues that come with these types of roof systems and their components throughout their service lives.
Date
9/2011
Author(s)
Bill McHugh; Rod Petrick
Page(s)
Keyword(s)
code requirement; reflective green roof; aggregate; ballast; green roof; vegetative roof; photovoltaic; PV; solar thermal; insulation; water drainage


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