Green Roofs on Public Schools: a Guaranteed Way to Stimulate a Post-Covid Recovery
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In 2020 Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez of New York introduced legislation entitled Green Roofs for Public School Buildings. The legislation proposes $500 million over four years as follows: $100 million for planning, $300 million for installation, and $100 million for maintenance with a four-year maintenance requirement. The legislation also includes requirements for hiring a Green Roof Professional (GRP) and showing that the green roof meets minimum performance criteria specified in the Living Architecture Performance Tool (LAPT), an independent performance rating system for green roofs and walls created by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and administered by the Green Infrastructure Foundation.
The intensive green roof on Manhattan’s PS 6 Eco Center functions as an outdoor classroom, offering numerous hands-on learning opportunities for students, and serving as a model for all schools on how to optimize productive and educational programs on otherwise under-utilized roofs. 2014 GRHC Award of Excellence Winning Project: MKM Landscape Architecture P.C.
The Green Roofs for Public Schools Buildings legislation begins with an enumeration of the multiple benefits of green roofs and acknowledges the prior work of federal agencies which have recognized many of these benefits. The strength of this legislation lies in the multiplicity of benefits that will accrue to the schools, students, teachers, residents and communities in which the public schools are located:
Providing educational opportunities for students
Reducing Urban Heat Island impacts which disproportionately impact lower income Americans. According to The Guardian, “Researchers have found that poorer areas of US cities, with more residents of color, can be up to 20F hotter in summer than wealthier, whiter districts, impacting children as they grow”
Extending lifespans of roofing systems from 17 to 40 years - protecting them from UV light and temperature fluctuations by vegetation, saving taxpayers money
Enhancing the energy performance of buildings and extending the life of HVAC systems
Reducing air pollution through the capture of pollutants and particulate matter by plants
Reducing impacts on stormwater systems, water pollution, and providing stormwater management services
Providing urban greenspace for active and passive recreation and providing access to local, healthy foods
Providing neighborhood stabilization benefits, improving property values and addressing inequities
Reducing GHG emissions by reducing energy use and sequestering carbon
Reducing lifetime costs of public infrastructure, saving taxpayers money
Providing habitat for a diverse array of migratory birds, pollinators, and wildlife
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Cost-Benefit Analysis of Proposed Legislation
While green roofs provide a number of public and private benefits, these benefits are often not properly quantified or valued, and therefore, not incorporated into decisions around investment and policy. The Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Matrix was developed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Green Infrastructure Foundation to help political leaders and other decision-makers understand these costs and benefits, and help analyze programs and proposed developments.
It is based on several steps of data aggregation and simplification, and the values that the Matrix uses are averages, reflecting large-scale implementation rather than being project-specific – ideal for analyzing the impacts of the Green Roofs for Public School Buildings legislation. We used the Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Matrix to conduct an economic analysis of the proposed legislation, making a number of assumptions.
Based on these assumptions, the investments proposed as part of the Green Roofs for Public School Buildings legislation would have a significant positive return. Over a 50-year period, the $300 million capital investment in green roof installation would have a positive return of $183 million (in 2021 dollars), and a rate of return of 7.3%.
Detailed Results
$300 million in capital investments
14 million sf of green roof can be implemented (10 million sf of extensive, 1 million sf of intensive, food producing, 3 million sf of intensive, non-food producing)
$160 million (2021 dollars) in maintenance over a 50-year period
$183 million (2021 dollars) in net benefit over a 50-year period
A rate of return of 7.3%
$378 million in benefits to school districts from reduced building energy use, increased roof lifespan, and rooftop food production over 50 years
$264 million in community benefits from improved stormwater management, urban heat island reduction, improved air quality, increased biodiversity, GHG sequestration over 50 years
This does not include many other valuable benefits, like opportunities for environmental education and workforce development, improved health/well-being, increased green space, improved productivity and reduced absenteeism for staff, improved resilience to climate change impacts, and increased property values for surrounding properties.
Because our analysis captures all costs, but many benefits are left out, it is extremely conservative. A more detailed analysis that attempts to capture some of these additional benefits will likely find an even stronger case for large scale green roof investments on our nation’s schools.
For more information about the Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Matrix, including detailed methodology, read the Green Infrastructure Charrette Program reports at greeninfrastructurefoundation.org/resources
Green Roofs and Workforce Development
The educational programming on green roofs for students should include career exploration and skills training for design, construction and maintenance of green roofs, and other green infrastructure systems. In fact, without parallel strategies for workforce development, many regions may find they lack sufficient numbers of skilled and craft workers to install these systems. We will need more GRPs and other professionals to invest funds wisely and get beautiful and functional green roofs on schools.
Green roofs provide meaningful, living-wage jobs in the 21st century green industry, while supporting local suppliers and manufacturers. Source: LiveRoof
At a weighted average cost for green roofs of $21.40 per square foot, of which $10 is labor, the $300 million in grants for green roof installation, by itself, represents over $140 million for labor costs on the projects, and more if the grants leverage other funding for projects. With labor rates of $25-75 an hour for green roof crews, or about $1,400 per day for a four-person crew, the legislation will support over 3 million labor hours, or 1,593 construction job-years (a job year is one person employed full-time for one year).
Jobs will also be created from the need to maintain more green roofs, jobs which will be most needed in the first two years of a new green roof, but will continue for the useful life of the green roof systems. At a weighted annual maintenance cost of 43 cents per square foot for maintenance, and an average, all-in wage rate of $44 an hour, 5.7 full-time permanent maintenance jobs will be created for every 1 million square feet of green roof space. This legislation will result in an additional 14 million square feet of green roof over four years and will create nearly 80 new and permanent maintenance jobs each year – 3,977 job-years over the 50-year study period. Based on these figures, the total number of direct job-years created as a result of this legislation is 5,570, over the 50-year study period.
However, it is important to consider that economists and researchers have determined that jobs have an ‘employment multiplier’, additional indirect and induced jobs created for each direct job created. This figure ranges from 2.26 in construction, to 9.57 in utilities. A team from LSE estimated that this economic multiplier for green jobs is 4.2. Based on this multiplier, in addition to the 5,570 direct job-years created over the 50-year study period, over 23,000 indirect and induced job-years would be created.
“In addition to the 5,570 direct job-years created over the 50-year study period, over 23,000 indirect and induced job-years would be created from this legislation.”
There is a dearth of skills training and career pathways in green infrastructure across most regions of the U.S. today. A handful of programs are creating models that include STEM learning for high school students linked to skills training and post-secondary degree programs in horticulture, soil science, and civil engineering. We need more accessible training for jobs installing and maintaining green roofs and other forms of green infrastructure, and certifications such as the Green Roof Professional that evidence proficiency in these skills and high standards of design.
Green Roofs and Schools in a Post-Covid World
The Covid-19 pandemic has resoundingly demonstrated the need for safe outdoor spaces where we can gather while maintaining safe distances, while school closures have had disproportionate impacts on students of color and those living in poverty. Green Roofs can provide opportunities for outdoor classrooms that can help students keep learning through this pandemic and the next one.
The green roof on Eastdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto works as part of a social enterprise in partnership with non-profit organization FoodShare. The roof provides a valuable educational tool and raised over $18,000 in revenue in 2014. Photo: FoodShare
The many benefits of green roofs to mitigate heat islands, reduce pollution, and stabilize neighborhoods will be most pronounced in many of our urban core neighborhoods, where students of color make up the majority of the school population. The Green Roofs for Public School Buildings legislation will be a tool to improve many of these urban schools and communities, while addressing our next big challenge: climate change. When combined with STEM learning and career exploration, it can also create pathways for a more diverse green infrastructure workforce and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of green roofs.
“There is no better place to begin teaching our children about conservation than our public schools,” argues Congresswoman Velázquez. “However, their education does not need to be confined to the classroom. These roofs allow students to directly engage with sustainable practices and see for themselves the impact that environmentally conscious initiatives can have on their hometowns and neighborhoods. By exposing them to these ideas early on in their education, we forge a path to a cleaner, healthier community.”
Peter Lowitt, FAICP, is Director of the Devens Enterprise Commission, and serves on the boards of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Green Infrastructure Foundation
Michael Krause is Principal of Kandiyo Consulting, and serves on the boards of the Green Infrastructure Foundation (as Treasurer) and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities
Rohan Lilauwala, GRP, is the Program Manager at the Green Infrastructure Foundation. Email Rohan at rlilauwala@greenroofs.org