In February, President Obama announced the Better Buildings Initiative, a multi-pronged effort to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade by encouraging private sector investment through incentives to upgrade schools, universities and municipal facilities, as well as offices, stores and other commercial buildings.
Completed in the spring of 2008, the cool and green roof demonstration/research project of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based architecture and design firm A3C took place atop its UrbEn Retreat. The project was implemented with the assistance of Firestone Building Products and in collaboration with Prof. Moji Nawab of the University of Michigan’s Sustainable Design Research Lab.