法规定新商业建筑须由植物或太阳能“绿色覆盖”

Rooftops on new buildings built in commercial zones in France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels, under a law approved on Thursday.

法国议会3月19日通过新法案，规定法国商业区的新建筑物屋顶须由植物或太阳能电池板部分覆盖。

Green roofs have an isolating effect, helping reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building in winter and cool it in summer.

绿色屋顶有隔离效果，能帮助减少建筑冬天加热或夏天制冷所需的能量。

They also retain rainwater, thus helping reduce problems with runoff, while favoring biodiversity and giving birds a place to nest in the urban jungle, ecologists say.

生态学家称，绿色屋顶还能贮存雨水，缓解地表径流。不仅如此，绿色植物还有利于维护生物多样性，为鸟类在市区内提供栖息之地。

The law approved by parliament was more limited in scope than initial calls by French environmental activists to make green roofs that cover the entire surface mandatory on all new buildings.

不过，此次通过的法案同环保人士的最初提议相比，范围有所缩小。环保人士起初要求对境内所有新建筑物进行强制性“绿色”覆盖。

The Socialist government convinced activists to limit the scope of the law to commercial buildings.

社会党政府最终说服环保人士把适用范围缩小到商业区建筑。

The law was also made less onerous for businesses by requiring only part of the roof to be covered with plants, and giving them the choice of installing solar panels to generate electricity instead.

此外，法案也给企业减少了麻烦。法案仅要求部分屋顶有植物覆盖，并为他们提供了安装太阳能电池板的选择。

Green roofs are popular in Germany and Australia, and Canada’s city of Toronto adopted a by-law in 2009 mandating them in industrial and residential buildings.

在德国和澳大利亚，绿色屋顶都非常普遍。加拿大多伦多市2009年也曾通过一个条例，要求对工业和住宅建筑进行“绿色覆盖”。

Vocabulary

runoff：径流

Onerous：麻烦的

by-law：条例