New Sustainable Garden Roofs Developed
By Vanessa Richins
Garden roofs are an excellent environmentally-friendly way of reducing energy consumption in buildings.
Now, researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid have studied several different styles of these “rurban” roofs that are both functional and beautiful.
The factors studied were “different supports and regional plants based on three factors: the plant growing at a good speed, the density of the biomass perfectly covering the roof and the result being visually attractive.”
The experiment was performed by dividing a roof into 20 different sections. They also left some of them without a rurban covering as a control. As a spokesperson noted, “Roof areas with plants optimise better the heating and cooling of a building than a normal structure, regardless of how well insulated it is.”
They found that the best results came with plants that had thick leaves and frost and heat tolerance. Two examples they give are sedum and aptenia. The focus would be using plants that are native to the areas where the roofs are being installed, since they are naturally adapted to the growing conditions present.
Rurban roofs can help reduce air and noise pollution, collect rainwater, lower the temperature and beautify cities. The world leader in garden roofs is Germany. As the International Herald Tribune reported, “In Germany alone, industry data show about 14 million square meters, or 150 million square feet, of green roofs are installed annually, and 80,000 rainwater harvesting plants are built each year.”
I would love to see more roofs like these installed in our cities.
Are there any where you live?
December 6th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Unfortunately, there are hardly any rooftop gardens here in central Connecticut. While we are lucky to have many full working farms here nearby for visiting, CSA shares, etc., for those in suburban areas or cities, its hard to find a connection to growing.
Have you found any information on how these rooftop gardens can be installed, cost, etc?
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 am
Please infome me your pre squire fit charges for roof garden and some details.
August 19th, 2010 at 6:32 am
biofuel is better than electricity energy for my car.