Chicago, IL
Local City Rankings Article
Turning Hot Black to Cool Green
When a team of scientists swooped in over downtown Chicago last year aboard a police chopper, they noticed something astounding: the black asphalt roof atop the county building that adjoined City Hall measured in at 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Armed with thermal imaging cameras, the scientists and environmentalists then shifted their equipment to City Hall’s “green roof” – a roof covered in lush vegetation. That roof, they noted, was cooling out at a mere 70 degrees. “It really confirmed a lot of what we knew” about green roofs, says Sadhu Johnston, chief environmental officer in the Chicago mayor’s office.
