[SPN-Discussion] Greentech Investors Forum: Friday, Nov. 13: Greensulate: Taking Green Roofs to Scale

Fri Nov 6 12:12:29 PST 2015

*Greensulate: Taking Green Roofs to Scale*

Date: Friday, November 13, 2015

Time: 8:00am – 10:00am (Program begins at 8:30am)

Organizer: Gelvin Stevenson, PhD

Sponsor and Host: Crowell & Moring. LLC

Location: 590 Madison Ave. at 57th Street, southwest corner, 22nd floor

The greenroof industry looks like a flower garden gone to weed. Vibrant,
fecund, fast growing and productive. But also wild, shapeless and chaotic.
Greensulate is transforming all that into an English garden.

Greenroofs’ benefits are well known. Green roofs protect the original roof
from damage from UV rays, cycles of freezing and heating and whatever
humans do to them, so they can last up to three or four times as long as
typical roofs. One big benefit they provide is natural insulation, which
saves on heating and cooling costs. Those savings can reach 73 percent in
the summer on a one-story building. So investments can be recouped in about
20 years.

As impressive as that is, those benefits don’t count the environmental
benefits (the “externalities”, if you will). For the climate, greenroofs
absorb CO2, produce oxygen and establish roof-top eco-systems with a
surprising amount of biodiversity. (“We even saw bees!” exclaimed one
employee.) For the local government, greenroofs aid in storm water
management, by slowing the flow of water down the drains during and
immediately after a rain storm. Employees and residents in the green-roofed
buildings feel better and work more productively.

Super Storm Sandy drove home the benefit of slowing storm water runoff
and sewage overflows that occur when a storm overburdens the city’s water
management system. Green roofs capture water at lower cost than trying to
control it through end-of-pipe storage tanks and the other engineered
systems, like pumps and raised ventilation grates that the NYC transit
authority is considering.

But the industry’s expansion has been hindered by the fragmentation of the
local installers. Greensulate intends to become the Ford Motor Company of
Greenroofs by expanding and rationalizing the process. This requires
coordinating roofers, architects, landscape architects, horticulturalists,
Notes Greensulate GEO Amy Norquist, “Greensulate is uniquely positioned to
be a one stop shop – from design to install to maintenance – and the “go
to” green roof company in our target markets, which is significant, since
the industry is going through a period of very high growth.  With the
majority of projected industry growth in the commercial space, property
owners are seeking out companies with significant experience integrating
the waterproofing with the living roof (system integrators).”

In addition to growing as a service business, Greensulate has developed a
 proprietary growing medium—the “soil” replacement”—that not only allows
them to vertically integrate, but also to reduce their COGS and increase
their net margins, control quality, create an incremental revenue stream,
and uniquely differentiate their offering as one that large customers can
not get elsewhere. Including this patent pending growing medium in their
green roofs allows Greensulate to offer an extended “single source”
warranty as well as more effective maintenance, which is free for the first
two years.

To scale the business quickly, Greensulate has developed strategic
partnerships with large architects, property developers, roofers, and
construction companies. This is aided by focusing at first on a few areas.
Greensulate, headquartered in Brooklyn, is currently focusing on large,
supportive markets, i.e. New York, Seattle/Portland, San Francisco and the
Bay Area, Los Angeles and Florida.

New York offers a $5.23 per sq ft tax incentive for green roofs (as it is
the most cost effective storm water management strategy for the city).  In
addition, the large majority of the older buildings in New York were
constructed so that they can support the weight of a green roof without
additional structural engineering.  Portland has a $5/sq ft reimbursement
for storm water management, and both Seattle and Portland offer FAR bonuses
(Floor Area Ratio), where developers may develop an additional 3 sq ft per
foot of green roof where otherwise restricted (this is huge). The Bay Area
has warmly embraced green roofs, showcasing large, inspiring projects like
Facebook’s 9 acre green roof, and the proposed largest green roof in the
world in Cupertino across from the Apple campus. In addition, the City of
San Francisco is aggressively increasing its incentives for green
roofs.  San Francisco campuses like Twitter, UCSF, and USF all have green
roofs. Florida also like the storm water management help. The city of L.A.
has identified green roofs as an important strategy to reduce its urban
heat island, improve air quality, and reduce peak energy loads. And
Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore are all coming on board.

Register at the Greentech Investors Forum Eventbrite Page  Greentech
Investors Forum's Eventbrite Page
<http://www.eventbrite.com/e/greentech-investors-forum-greensulate-taking-greenroofs-to-scale-tickets-19425131090?aff=es2>

Or contact Gelvin at gelvin.stevenson at gmail.com.

And if you don’t think this business could be huge, consider the potential
just in NYC. As CEO Norquist wrote in a NYC Op-Ed, “A $100,000 investment
in green roofs citywide could lead to more than 81,000 gallons of storm
water captured….And green roofs wouldn’t just keep water out of the
subways, they would also keep at bay the more than 27 billion gallons of
raw sewage and polluted storm water that stream into New York Harbor each
year and make the city cooler. According to the Riverkeeper/S.W.I.M. study,
the surface temperatures in the city could be reduced by 1.4 degrees
Fahrenheit if 50 percent of the flat roofs in New York City were
transformed to green. This decrease in temperature correlates to energy
savings of $70 million per year.”

Presenter: Amy Norquist, CEO & Founder, Greensulate

Sector Expert: TBA

Disclaimer: The Greentech Investors Forum (GIF) is not soliciting funds for
the presenting companies, nor is it encouraging parties to invest in them.
We try to find good companies—not necessarily good investments. They have
been advised on what is acceptable in terms of predicted results, but GIF
takes no responsibility for what they actually do, say, or how they perform
in the future.

*Security:*              If there is a problem at the Security Desk, please
contact Ellen Reilly at (212) 223-4000 <%28212%29%20895-4265> (first
choice) or call Gelvin Stevenson at 917-599-6089.

*Fees:*                $50, payable ahead of time or at the door. Cash or
checks and credit cards accepted.

$25 for call-in. Registered call-ins will be emailed the call-in numbers
and, if available, the slides to be presented.

                        $25 for students, media and members of E2 and other
affiliated organizations.

*Agenda:*              8:00 to 8:30 -     Networking

                            8:30 to 8:40 -     Introductions

  8:40 to 9:10 -     Amy Norquist, CEO and Founder

  9:10 to 9:30 -        TBA

  9:30 to 10:00 -   Discussion

To register, visit this Eventbrite site Greentech Investors Forum's
Eventbrite Page
<http://www.eventbrite.com/o/greentech-investors-forum-4795149719?s=47721896>

or send your contact information to Gelvin Stevenson at
gelvin.stevenson at gmail.com or 917-599-6089. And contact Gelvin If you have
questions or need more information.

Bios: Amy Norquist, CEO, Greensulate

Amy spent over 25 years in the fields of environmental research, science
and education prior to founding Greensulate. Most recently she was Deputy
Director of the multi-million dollar Beacon Institute for Rivers and
Estuaries overseeing research and development efforts on major water and
sustainable building initiatives. Norquist is Faculty at NYU’s Schack
School of Real Estate and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University,
The New School and is one of the nation’s most highly respected
spokesperson for the green roof industry. In 2015 Norquist brings a new
course on green roofs to the University of Miami’s School of Architecture.

Amy’s accolades include being named a “Top 5 Start-Up” at the Opportunity
Green Conference , winner of the 2010 Excellence in Design award from The
Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing, and one of Inc. Magazine’s
Entrepreneurs We Love.  Bloomberg Business Week named Greensulate one
of America’s Most Promising Start-ups.

Amy has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The
Huffington Post, The Living Architecture Monitor and The Registry. She was
a featured innovator at The Innovation Economy Conference 2009 (sponsored
by The Aspen Institute & Intel) and has been profiled in Inc. Magazine, The
Wall Street Journal
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122305471179402733.html>, The New York
Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/nyregionopinions/30CInorquist.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=%22Farmer+on+the+Roof%22&st=nyt&oref=slogin>
, Stanford Alumni Magazine
<http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2010/janfeb/pc/norquist.html>,
Domino <http://www.greensulate.com/pdf/Domino_11_2008.pdf>, Good
<http://www.good.is/post/the-air-up-there> and elsewhere.

A certified GRP (Green Roof Professional)–designated by Green Roofs for
Healthy Cities <http://www.greenroofs.org/>–since 2008, Amy is responsible
for growing Greensulate’s business 50% year-over-year and is deeply
dedicated to greening as many roofs as possible, nationwide.

Amy’s favorite green roof plant is Sedum Album ‘Chloroticum’. (She also
loves Nassella tenuissima.)
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