Gary Chan

My name is Gary Chan and I am a third year undergraduate student majoring in Civil Engineering at The City College. As part of the Environmental Entrepreneurship Program, I have studied the methods of environmental dredging of PCBs on the Hudson River and I am currently studying the economic and environmental benefits of Green Roof Systems. My goals in the program are to explore many of the new environmentally beneficial ideas that can result in improvements in the environmental and economic conditions in everyday life.

Research:

I am currently researching the many potential benefits of Green Roofs in the urban environment. Green Roofs are emerging as a very effective means of addressing many of the environmental concerns that exist in today’s urban centers. In studies, they have shown great promise in reducing the urban heat island effect, improving air and water quality, and increasing the amount of plant life in an urban area. The objectives of my studies are to demonstrate how green roofs can play a dramatic role in confronting the problems of storm water runoff. In cities such as New York, where the sewage and storm water systems are combined, Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) are a real threat to the surrounding marine and coastal environment any time there is a large rain event.

I will be constructing an extensive green roof section on the roof of Steinman Hall, City College’s engineering building. Tests will be done to test the ability of different green roof designs to hold water during rain events using a mass balance approach. Specifically, rainfall, soil moisture and drainage from the sections will be measured over a calendar year. Temperature data will also be collected to quantify the insulating capabilities of the different designs. In addition, a cost/benefit analysis for green roofs versus more traditional CSO abatement measures will be done. The results of this study may yield further evidence that in cities, green roofs can be one of the most prudent solutions to CSOs environmentally and economically.

Here is my research page.