Most projects choose to go with a light-colored roof because there is less maintenance and upfront costs. However, low-rise buildings in particular (in which the roof is relatively important in maintenance and cost considerations) should consider the life-cycle cost benefits of green roofs, due to improved insulation and better roof durability.
Treat terraces and balconies as roof square footage if they protrude from the building and serve as a roof surface for conditioned spaces below. The top layer over conditioned space counts as a roof. For example, in some high-rise applications a rooftop pool deck will need to factor into equations. If an architectural covering or balcony does not have conditioned space below, it is counted as non-roof surface covering and is covered under SSc7.1: Heat Island Effect—Non-Roof.
The square footage of a pitched roof should be determined by calculating the surface area of the roofing material itself, not the area as seen from above.
Determine the total square footage of your building's roof surface, then subtract the space taken up by mechanical equipment, such as mechanical rooms for boilers and chillers, HVAC units, PV, skylights and other rooftop systems. The remaining area is the focus of calculations for this credit.
If you use photovoltaic structures to shade hardscapes, they can count either toward shading hardscapes under Option 1, or shading parking spaces under Option 2—but not both. Decide which compliance path you want the PV to fall under.
