Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

An Unexpected Green Roof Benefit: Purging Urban Rainfall of Microplastics

Via Anthropocene Magazine, a report on how – in a laboratory-scale study - green roof mockups kept 97.5 percent of microplastic particles out of runoff: Green roofs can capture nearly all the microplastic particles that contaminate rainwater in modern cities, according to a new study. The findings add to the list of benefits of green roofs, […]

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Cool Roofs, Hot Debate: A Little-Known ‘Dark Roof’ Lobby May Be Making Your City Hotter

Via Floodlight News, a look at how – as cities heat up – reflective roofs could lower energy bills and help the climate, but dark roofing manufacturers are waging a quiet campaign to block new rules: It began with a lobbyist’s pitch. Tennessee Rep. Rusty Grills says a lobbyist proposed a simple idea: repeal the state’s […]

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Rain Could Be A Clean Way of Generating Electricity

Via New Scientist, a report that scientists have found a way of using rainfall to create renewable electricity: Water droplets falling through a tube have generated enough electricity to power 12 LED lights. Such an approach could one day be used in roof-based systems to harvest lots of clean power from rain. “Rain falls on Earth every […]

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Machine Learning Helps Map Solar and Green Roofs

Via Sustmeme, a look at how machine learning helps map solar and green roofs: Data visualisation of roof shapes. Image credit: © Ordnance Survey Brand new roofs data, extracted with the help of machine learning, will benefit sustainability and energy sectors by supporting carbon net zero initiatives and retrofits, plus map solar and green installations. […]

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China’s Massive Solar Rooftop Roll-Out Gains Traction, But Grid Struggles To Keep Pace

Via South China Morning Post, a look at China’s massive ‘distributed’ solar power generation program on roofs of houses, factories and airports is spreading across country, but curtailment rate is also rising: Former construction contractor Gao Shouguang switched careers last year, abandoning the troubled property sector to become a solar panel distributor – and another example […]

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Rooftop Revolution: Where Homeowners Are Adopting Solar Panels

Via Fast Company, a report on where homeowners are adopting solar panels:   While more homeowners are adding solar panels to their homes in hopes of reducing their energy bills, adoption varies significantly across the country To understand which housing markets are doing the most solar panel installation, ResiClub collaborated with the data experts at BatchService, […]

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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.”