Students in NYU's Green House joined forces with Oxfam America @ NYU and the NYU Environmental Studies Club to put their creativity to use this weekend. The group painted the roof of the Fountain House Women's Shelter white in an effort to lower energy consumption during the summer.
The students' work was part of the city's initiative to lower the amount of energy consumed for cooling buildings by 30 percent by 2030. The shelter was one of two satellite buildings owned by the Fountain House, a group dedicated to the recovery of men and women with mental illnesses.
"It's for the green initiative, a new program that the city's rolling out," said Joseph Jackson, a Fountain House employee who has worked with the group for eight years.
Professor Marty Hoffert, emeritus professor of physics, emphasized the costs and the science of the ongoing project.
"Buildings are going to get warmer because they have dark surfaces on them, and that's going to mean that in order to keep them cool inside, you need to use more energy to cool off the building," he said.
According to Hoffert, painting roofs white is one of the easiest things to increase the city's sustainability, there is still much to be done. White roofs absorb less sunlight, which make cooling the building less costly and more energy efficient.
It's not going to solve the problem," Hoeffer said, "but it's a step in the right direction."
Still, Fountain House case worker Anthony Tucci said he was incredibly grateful for the effort that NYU students made toward energy efficiency.
"We have cake for them tomorrow," Tucci let slip with a smile.
