Archive for December, 2021

New Zealand’s Trend Of Greater Urban Density May Foster A Rooftop Revolution

Via The Conversation, a look at why New Zealand’s move towards greater urban density should see a rooftop revolution: New Zealand has historically been a suburban land. Famously characterised as a “quarter-acre pavlova paradise”, the domestic ideal has long been a single dwelling on a full section. But that is changing fast. With soaring house prices and homes in […]

Read more »



Rooftop PV + EV = Decarbonized Urban Energy Systems?

Via Solar Daily, an article on the rapid rise of decarbonization potential of rooftop PV plus EVs in residential houses: Rooftop photovoltaics (PVs) integrated with electric vehicles (EVs) has the potential to deeply decarbonize urban energy systems in a cost-effective way. The SolarEV City Concept suggested that the rooftop PV plus EV systems can supply […]

Read more »



New York’s Javits Center Opens Rooftop Farm

Via Cool Hunting, a report on a new rooftop farm in New York City: Since 2014, the Jacob K Javits Convention Center has been home to the largest green roof in NYC, totaling 6.75 acres of greenery. Now, the venue has added a one-acre farm in order to supply ingredients to its kitchen, cutting the […]

Read more »



Rooftop Gardens Could Be Solar-Powered Working Farms

Via WIRED, an article on a rooftop idea that could help generate food and energy while reducing a building’s cooling costs: LONG THE TERRITORY of cats, weather vanes, and the occasional fiddler, roofs are growing thick with solar panels. A home or business rooftop is an ideal place to site them because sunlight there is less obstructed by shadows […]

Read more »



Bringing Residential Solar + Storage As A Virtual Power Plant Into Reality

Via Renewable Energy World, a report on an innovative Australian program testing residential solar+storage as a virtual power plant: Project Symphony will investigate the use of distributed energy resources in Western Australia’s energy market. The Au$35.5 million (US$25 million) project being led by the Western Australia state power supplier Western Power aims to recruit around 500 […]

Read more »


  | 
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.”