Community Environmental Center helps launch NYC Cool Roofs Program

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Long Island City, NY (May 12, 2010)–The roof of LaGuardia Community College in Queens was the site of NYC’s Cool Roofs launch, Tuesday morning, May 11, 2010.

Nine stories up, beneath a bright sun, NYC Housing Authority Commissioner Margarita Lopez, NYC Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert D. LiMandri, NYC Service student volunteers and others hefted long-handled paint rollers and swabbed the roof with reflective white paint. This is the first stroke in the City’s Cool Roofs project, which aims to coat one million square feet of City roofing.

“We are going to make New York City the most energy efficient city in the world,” Commissioner Lopez told the group assembled on the roof, rousing them to applause.

Richard M. Cherry, president of Community Environmental Center (CEC), the Queens-based non-profit organization that is heading the Cool Roofs project for NYC, said, “When we have finished coating a million square feet, we will have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 10,000 tons. If we could do the whole city, we would save over $100 million a year in electricity.”

A cool roof absorbs 80 percent less heat than traditional, dark-colored roofs and can lower roof temperatures by up to 60 degrees and indoor temperatures by 10 to 20 degrees on hot days. The decrease in temperature lessens the need for air conditioning, lowering energy bills and reducing energy consumption.

The NYC Cool Roofs program will help the City meet the goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030, the primary goal of PlaNYC, the City’s comprehensive sustainability plan.

Community Environmental Center’s affiliate Build It Green!NYC (BIG!NYC), located in Astoria, Queens, is in charge of the day-to-day running of Cool Roofs, working with NYC Service, the volunteer organization established by Mayor Bloomberg in April 2009 to meet his State of the City pledge for New York City to lead the nation in answering President Obama’s national call to service.

For more information, please contact: Alexis Greene, agreene@cecenter.org, 718-784-1444, ext. 156

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