This question is to clarify what qualifies for a roof. Our project is a 7-story residential building. Due to zoning requirements the building has setbacks at the mid level floors. This results in a smaller \'top floor\' roof footprint than the buidling foot print at the ground plane. We are proposing to use an Energy-Star roof with an emissivity of .9 for the top floor roof. We would like to exclude the \'roof\' areas created by the mid level setbacks for the following reasons: (1) These roof areas are usable space for the tenants. They are terraces with recycled wood deck which are either for private use by the tenant, or common use for the building. They are considered "usable open space" by the local zoning code and occupied space by the building code. (2) We do not believe that having a highly reflective roof coating on these areas would meet the intent of the credit. The light, and heat from the roof would be reflected into the residential apartments and create an unpleasant glare, and possibly unwanted heat gain. In addition, some of these roof areas are planted with gardens and the surrounding light areas would have an effect on the microclimate of these planted areas. Please advise if we can use the top floor "unoccupied roof" area to meet the intent of this credit.
The roof is what covers the building. The primary function of the terrace space in question is that of a roof, and so the area must be included in SS Credit 7.2 calculations. PLEASE NOTE: (1) If the terrace space equates to less than 25% of the total roof surface, and the other 75% meets the requirements, then the point is achieved. (2) A CIR dated 1/21/2002 advises that net average reflectance can be used to achieve the performance requirement. Consider this path if the roofing material exceeds the Energy Star requirement for initial solar reflectance. (3) You may also use a combination of reflective/emissive roofing and vegetated roofing (or roof-top gardens) to achieve the requirement. Use the following calculation to determine compliance: (reflective roof area/0.75) + (vegetated roof area/0.5) >= total roof area. Applicable Internationally.