Raees Ahmed

In this second part of the Rooftop Series (read the first part Greening Mumbai: Debris to Development), intern Raees Ahmed talks about his experience in developing and piloting a bulk purchasing program in Johannesburg, South Africa.

When I was first offered an internship by Rooftops Canada, I was overjoyed. It came at a time when I was completing work on a post-disaster development project in Haiti. After one month’s training with co-op and social housing organizations in Toronto, I left for a five-month internship with the National Association of Social Housing Organizations (NASHO) in Johannesburg, South Africa to help start their first bulk purchasing program.

NASHO is a national federation of 16 social housing institutions that house about 21,000 low-income families across the country. NASHO provides training to its members and represents their voices in government relations and more generally, in the housing market. Although still fairly young, NASHO boasts a large number of highly motivated social housing developers and managers. They very much share the values of Canadian housing activists. In the words of NASHO’s part-time CEO, Malcolm McCarthy, “social housing is not about making units, it’s about ensuring people live in decent communities with adequate services”. A participant at the 2010 NASHO Conference in Johannesburg added, “social housing is not about making units, it’s about making people”.

Rooftops Canada has supported NASHO from its launch in 2002. This included visits to Canadian co-op and social housing federations and associations to learn about their bulk purchasing programs. The program at NASHO is intended to generate funds to assist the organization with its future operations, provide savings for its members, and improve the living conditions of their low-income tenants. This includes looking for opportunities to “green” housing operations.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the first product to come on stream will be property insurance. When all NASHO members switch to the new insurer, revenues will cover the costs of a staff person for the program. Banking, security services and maintenance supplies are the next in line.

In developing the strategy we borrowed heavily from the experience of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto. I am grateful to the staff of the two organizations as well as the Social Housing Services Corporation and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation for the continued support and for sharing their experience. A successful NASHO and a successful bulk purchase program will definitely contribute to the development of the social housing sector in South Africa.

More information on Rooftops Canada:  http://www.rooftops.ca/english/index.asp

More about NASHO: http://www.nasho.org.za/

Marc Aguanno

Rooftops Canada is an international development agency that works on housing-related issues. For about 10 years Rooftops has been sending young professionals overseas to work with one of its partner organizations for a six-month period. Program costs are met by the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Last year, SHSC committed to making a financial contribution as well as pre-departure briefing and logistical support for two interns on projects related to SHSC business operations. Marc Aguanno is a 2010 intern who was sent to Mumbai, India to help increase the use of green building technologies. He talks about his work at a debris recycling plant below:

Rooftops Canada has been supporting an unusual project in Mumbai, India. The CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre is a joint initiative set up by Rooftops Canada’s partner, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), and the City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). The Centre recycles construction waste – reclaiming what was seemingly useless debris in a cost-effective and sustainable program.

The CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre has been successfully picking up construction waste – including brick, mortar, masonry and ceramic tiles – for a small fee. The debris is sorted, crushed and turned into new paving stones, bricks and mortar. The Centre has created jobs in its recycling of old debris from construction sites and building demolitions and renovations, and its success has led to recognition by the city.

The Indian brick industry, which is the second largest producer in the world next to China, consumes more than 24 million tons of coal annually. While the government has been emphasizing the use of more efficient kilns to reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, it also realizes that efficiency alone will not solve the problem. In response, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has extended a call to the international engineering community to design, construct and manage a 500-ton per day construction and demolition (C&D) waste recycling facility for the city. The ultimate goal of the project is to substitute a portion of clay brick production with recycled material collected from the overwhelming amounts of C&D waste produced in the city each day.

The CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre has been approached by the city to help in this ambitious undertaking. A plant of this size has never been constructed in the country and will also require the experience of international partners to carry it out effectively. The Indian construction industry remains unconvinced about recycling technology. This project is therefore an important opportunity to demonstrate that alternative methods not only function just as well as traditional practices but offer significant benefits for the environment and people of India. With an estimated one year remaining until landfill space in Mumbai is completely gone, the new large-scale recycling facility is urgently needed.

Rooftops Canada is committed to support the CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre meet this challenge by providing technical support.

• Replacing roofs is an excellent opportunity to improve energy efficiency
• Using light coloured shingles, surface coating and gravel can further add to your energy savings
• ENERGY STAR® cool or reflective roof products reduce the amount of heat transferred into a home
• Strategically planning and timing your projects together will help you achieve maximum savings
• Roof replacement time is the best time to consider a renewable energy system

Replacing a roof due to damage and/or age presents an excellent opportunity to improve energy efficiency, comfort levels for tenants, reduce operating costs and C02 emissions which cause Global Warming.

In the case of a sloped roof aim for a minimum of R40 or, preferably, R50. Insulation will not meet its maximum effect in an attic setting unless the attic is properly sealed and a continuous vapour barrier has been installed.

For a flat roof aim for a minimum of R30. This may not always be achievable because of other structural issues such as rooftop mechanical rooms, roof access points and ridge height, but it is important to instruct your contractor to achieve as high a level as possible.

Further savings can be achieved by using light coloured shingles, surface coatings or gravel. These materials reflect heat during summer months rather then absorbing it as dark coloured materials do. An energy efficient roof should reflect a high percentage of solar energy and radiate away energy (heat) after it is absorbed. ENERGY STAR® cool or reflective roof products reflect more of the sun’s rays, lowering a roof surface temperature by up to 100 degrees, and reducing the amount of heat transferred into a home. The ENERGY STAR® program presently considers reflectance only, not emittance. A Roof’s emissivity relates to how quickly it releases heat it has absorbed. Because of this property cooling costs are reduced. This measure also helps to reduce “heat island effect”, a contributor to global warming, particularly in dense urban areas.

As with every energy efficient retrofit measure, maximum results are achieved by combining efforts. The savings gained by a well insulated roof are leveraged by caulking and weatherstripping the building envelope which, in turn, maximizes the efficiency of the HVAC system or, in the case where a system is being replaced, can result in a smaller, less expensive replacement.

Roof replacement time is also the best time to consider a renewable energy system. Because Solar systems have a life span of at least 20 years and, in the case of Solar PV, Solar Thermal and Solar Air roofing, a considerable portion of the cost is installation on the roof, a new roof gives a much greater degree of certainty that these systems will not need to be removed for re-roofing.

Combining all of these measures will result in a healthier, more comfortable building, reduced operating costs, a revenue stream (in the case of Solar PV) from the Feed In Tariff (FIT) and a greener community.