"纽约市将近75％的一次能源用于建筑物内或为建筑物本身所用。在当今为提高能源效率而实施的许多不同举措中，很明显，我们最需要改善的是我们建成的城市环境。除了必须对现有建筑物进行升级之外，还应处理被遗忘的间隙空间，因为在这些间隙中，改善在建筑上可以变得切实可见。

本书中描述的项目基于“我们最丰富的能源是太阳，而最未被充分利用的城市空间是我们的屋顶”这一观察和成功进入了能源部2011年举办的太阳能十项全能竞赛（其目标是设计和建造一座将在华盛顿特区的国家广场上展出“零净能量”房屋）的参赛作品。如果我们可以通过开发未充分利用的公寓楼屋顶的空间来利用几代人开发的基础设施，从而为下方的“主楼”产生一部分动力，从而立即更新我们为建筑物供电的方式，甚至我们的城市生活方式？这个具有远见的概念（在这里全面记录了建筑方面的细节）变成了现实，因为纽约城市学院的一队学生接受挑战展示了他们对可在纽约市推广的“ Roofpod”原型的愿景。

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"Close to 75% of primary energy in New York City is used in or for buildings. Amid the many different initiatives being implemented today to increase energy efficiency, it is clear that it is our built urban environment that needs the most improvement. Besides the fact that existing buildings have to be upgraded, the forgotten, interstitial spaces, where improvement can become architecturally tangible, should also be addressed.

The project described in this book developed from the observation that ""our most abundant energy resource is the sun and our most underutilized urban space is our rooftops"", and a successful entry into the Department of Energy's 2011 Solar Decathlon whose goal was to design and build a 'Net-Zero-Energy' house to be exhibited on the National Mall in Washington DC. What if we could make use of infrastructure developed over generations by developing the underutilized space of apartment building rooftops to generate some of the power for the 'host-buildings' underneath, and thus immediately renew the way we power our buildings and, beyond that, our urban way of life? This visionary concept, documented here in comprehensive architectural detail, became reality when a team of students from the City College of New York took on the challenge of presenting their vision of a built 'Roofpod' prototype that could be promoted in New York City.

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