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Retrofit building with a green roof to improve temperature management and decrease stormwater damage risk.
BUILDING AND FACILITY MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SERVICES
Segment Family Class
72
10
0
SDG Alignment
9. Build Resilient Infrastructure, Promote Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization and Foster Innovation
SDG Target
9.4
Target Description
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
Level of Effort
Level of Effort Scale
3
1 -Quick Wins: solution involves adding criteria for the good or service being purchased (ex: certifications), minimal internal process changes.
2 -Long Term Adoption: solution requires some changes to internal processes and/or more capital investment (ex: digital transformation to reduce paper use).
3 – Disruptive Opportunities: requires significant investment and changes to internal processes (ex: retrofitting building)
Category Assessment
Assessment
• Conduct an engineering assessment to determine if the roof has the structural capacity to withstand a green roof.
• Assess the stormwater fees and damage risk, roof-related energy costs, and the marketing value (goodwill) of having a green roof.
• An energy simulation tool to perform cost and energy comparison of upgrading your HVAC can be done using the EnergyPlus tool. (Link provided in resources).
• Consider the amount of radioactive waste generated from Radiographic testing during facility inspections. Explore options in the market to use other non-destructive methods to carry out inspections prior to maintenance. Most companies are now moving away from using radiation for inspections and are adopting other energy efficient methods.
• This example is specifically for roofs, but other parts of the building should also be considered to reduce energy costs. The building itself requires retrofitting and periodic retro-commissioning to assess if the retro is still efficient over time as energy costs are bound to increase year-over-year.
Opportunity Identification
Business:
Reduced spend on roof replacement, cooling energy, and stormwater damage leads to the roof's increased lifespan and branding opportunity.
Sustainability:
Reduced urban heat islands, increased urban plant and wildlife habitat, increased roof life, improved air, water, life quality, decreased energy consumption, and noise pollution.
Strategy Build & Execution
• In the bid, have commercial priority on saving cost on temperature control and including it in the contract.
• Ask for an expected life span of the rooftop garden, detailed logic for the area span, and ensure the commercial decision considers the life span of the roof (estimated to be typically 40-55 years).
• Purchase low maintenance plants for the green roof.
• Ask for a detailed safety plan and safety certifications.
• Negotiate warranty and guarantee on stormwater diversion.
Supplier Negotiation & Contract
• In the bid, have commercial priority on saving cost on temperature control and including it in the contract.
• Ask for an expected life span of the rooftop garden, detailed logic for the area span, and ensure the commercial decision considers the life span of the roof (estimated to be typically 40-55 years).
• Purchase low maintenance plants for the green roof.
• Ask for a detailed safety plan and safety certifications.
• Negotiate warranty and guarantee on stormwater diversion.
Supplier Performance & Management
• Perform on a half yearly basis an assessment for green retrofit i.e. the rooftop garden. Monitor to track and record garden maintenance (temperature control, energy costs, stormwater runoff rate, soil moisture and other associated soil quality parameters as well) and the costs invested during the half yearly period.
• Evaluate and compare the tracked results gathered using the installed monitoring systems, with the commerical plan established at inception of the retrofit. Record the deviations and work to steadily reduce such discrepancies.
Resource Links
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