GOING GREEN BY FORCE
20 Apr 2017
Legislation in France now requires all new commercial buildings must have green roofs or solar panels. The new law will radically alter the skyline of many of France’s iconic city’s and improve their carbon footprint.
France has recently passed a law that requires all new buildings constructed in commercial areas to be partially covered by either solar panels or green roofs. Not only will this bring dramatic changes to the nation’s skylines and forcefully encourage designers and developers to include these features, but the law will help France pick up the pace the solar adoption—which has lagged behind other European nations in recent years.
Environmental groups in France had called for a more stringent version of the law, one which would have required new commercial construction to have complete green roof coverage. Instead, lawmakers opted to give developers the option of topping buildings with either partial green roofs or solar panels.
It is well known that green roofs help to absorb rainwater and reduce runoff while providing green spaces in otherwise developed, urban areas. Green roofs also play a significant role in reducing urban “heat island” effect which sees built up areas running warmer overall than other more widely spread centres.
The option provided by lawmakers to install solar panels rather than green roofs may also help France catch up in terms of adoption of solar energy. Think Progress reports that France had only five gigawatts of photovoltaics installed as of last summer, accounting for one percent of all energy production.