Green Roofs for Virginia Tech

Recognized as a top engineering university, Virginia Tech also has green roofs!

The most recent issue of Virginia Tech Magazine, has an article about VT alumni who are leaders in sustainability. However, the first graphic is of students planting a green roof between Seitz and Fralin Halls. The picture, seen left, shows the planting of sedum, known to be drought resistant and sequesters CO2, while other potential plant life releases CO2 during its life cycle.

The other green roof on the Blacksburg campus is the Fralin Life Sciences building.

As a reminder, several colleges and universities have buildings with green roofs. Those include George Washington University, and the University of Texas, to name two.

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Another Green Roof for London

London is getting another green roof on top of a sustainable building! The 21,370 square meter new office building was designed by UK-based Fletcher Priest for Monteverde Group.

The building is designed to use a staggered step design, creating two separate green roofs on the structure. Additionally, the upper green roof will be private, while the lower green roof will be public.

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Designers chose green roofs to double the public use space as well as to provide additional views of the surrounding buildings.

World Interior Design Network and World Architectural News ran similar stories commenting upon the structure and its design. WIDN also reports:

"The design reuses and adapts the existing below ground structure. This means about 50% of the existing building will be reused. The spare structural capacity and the embodied energy of the existing structure are not wasted, resulting in savings with reduced risks and less disturbance during ground works."

Additionally, recycled green glass will be used in the windows, reducing energy consumption by 40%.

Grow indoors

London is becoming a home of environmentally friendly, sustainable buildings with green roofs. Although projects such as the Battersea Power Station development have floundered due to the poor economic conditions of 2008-09, London has pioneered green roofed bus shelters (which San Francisco followed), and other green projects.

Greening Guangzhou

Guangzhou, the third largest city in China, suffers from the worst air pollution in the country. Owing to coal-fired electricity plants, as well as the use of coal and heavy oil in manufacturing, the air pollution is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking 8-10 packs of cigarettes a day.

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Acknowledging this situation as unsustainable, the local government, in conjunction with the national government and local business, have set out to improve not only the environmental conditions, but also the aesthetic conditions for the ten million who live in Guangzhou.

World Architecture News (WAN) reports:

"Heller Manus Architects has been awarded the contract to design Guangzhou’s Southern Axis... Heller Manus will now develop their plans for 14.78 sq km of the city incorporating waterfront and transit oriented development with a ferry terminal, central government districts, and a variety of urban land uses."

Heller Manus is based in San Francisco, and promotes designs that suitably blend function with the local culture. WAN notes, "The Heller Manus concept was chosen for its balance of growth with sustainability and preservation, while promoting amenities for better livability."

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Green roofs appear to be a significant element of the design, in addition to larger green spaces. In the context of improving Guangzhou, green roofs will help reduce the choking, fine particulate matter air pollution, as well improving storm water runoff. Both clean air and clean water are challenging not just for Guangzhou, but for China as a whole.

Grow indoors

Green roofs will also improve quality of life issues for the residents. Green roofs will provide green space for residents to escape the crowded city life and enjoy the view. Other possibilities include urban agriculture to improve food security.

As China continues to grow, its population is becoming more aware of the environmental consequences of rapid industrialization. Projects such as the modernization of Guangzhou, and dream cities such as Dongtan, will help prevent catastrophic and irreversible environmental damage and improve the overall health of its citizens.

Grow Cities with Green Roofs

Growing cities bring more air pollution. Cities such as Houston, Texas are using green roofs to combat air pollution and manage storm water runoff.

A recent NPR piece about growing and sprawling cities, states greater Houston's population at about 6 million people (podcast here). With its hot and humid climate, as well as oil refineries, air pollution is a very serious issue. Additionally, as Houston grows, storm water runoff and its management also becomes a more significant issue, as much of the runoff ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.

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The Houston Business Journal reported in 2007 people were thinking about and building green roofs. The green roof is 12% more efficient than a baseline building, and helps to reduce the urban heat island effect.

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From the article:

According to Wooten (Kirksey Associate Russell Wooten, project manager), green roofs address two green building issues that are of special concern in Houston:

• The heat island effect. Green roofs reduce what is known as the heat island effect: Due to large areas of hot paved surfaces in urban areas, it's often up to 10 degrees hotter in the city than in the surrounding countryside.
• Stormwater. The plant materials on green roofs absorb a large amount of stormwater.

...green roofs increase the roof's life span, filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air and filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater.

Another successful green roof project in Houston is the University of Houston Architecture School. Geoffrey Brune of the Architecture School states in a piece from ABC12.com:

"If all the buildings in Houston had green roofs then the temperature would be very different. … I think it would be significantly noticeable … by several degrees."

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Additionally, the U/H green roof is on a building with a sloped roof, not typically seen with green roofs. The building is proving that green roofs are feasible on not just for larger structures with sloped roofs, but also for residential structures, which typically do have sloped roofs.

As Houston's population continues to grow, the application of green roofs to new buildings will help bring cleaner air to its new residents.

Venlo, NL Green Roof

Venlo, the Netherlands, is joining the sustainability movement with its new municipal building.

World Architecture News reports the building, designed by Hans Goverde of Kraaijvanger • Urbis, will have two terraced green houses. The green houses will act like green roofs in that they will provide natural insulation and use storm water runoff.

The building will be the centerpiece of a larger development of sustainable buildings based on the "Cradle to Cradle" principles of William McDonough & Michael Braungart.

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"Cradle to Cradle" is a set of principles that, "...an industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes" can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value." Venlo demonstrates these principles by collecting storm water runoff for the green house, and using the underground parking garage to help maintain building temperatures.

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Another example of "Cradle to Cradle" is the green roof on Ford's Rouge River plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The 10 acre green roof on the main assembly plant, in combination with porous pavement and swales, greatly reduced the storm water runoff that was regularly polluting the Rouge River, and save Ford over $35 million.

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As the economics of sustainability are borne out, and buildings such as Venlo's municipal building are constructed, we will begin to see more green roofs, cleaner air for cities, and an overall improvement of environmental conditions.

Germany's ECO CITY

Germany, already a leader in green roofs, is now working on its own ECO CITY. Full of green roofs, wind turbines, and other sustainable technologies, ECO CITY hopes to revive the historic Hamburg-Harburg Harbor.

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Hamburg-Harburg Harbor, situated on the North Sea, has been a hub of trade and industrial activity since the 19th century. Although the original factories have since left, the historic area still has many classic buildings that ECO CITY wishes to retain and reuse in the renovated and sustainable city.

Site reclamation and renovations are difficult enough, however, ECO CITY takes this project to the next level. Inhabitat.com and World Architecture News both report one of ECO CITY's goals is to achieve certification from the three leading "green" building bodies (from WAN):

"...USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)’s Program. Currently, ECO CITY is seeking the highest level of environmental certification from all three programs."

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To achieve top marks from each of these bodies, buildings must produce renewable energy, be built with recycled materials, and use the renewable energy to sustain the project, e.g., solar lights, passive cooling, etc.

Green roofs are a key element of the project, not only to reduce storm water runoff, but also to improve the quality of life of the workers in the area. ARUP, the designers of Dongtan, the green city in China, is one of the key developers of ECO CITY. Their experience with green building, and Dongtan in particular, will help make ECO CITY a success.

US Postal Service Green Roof

The US Postal Service has finished a 2.5 acre green roof in New York City. The green roof, on top of the Morgan, an historic building in mid-town, should last 50 years.

Inhabitat.com posted the story in its regular email, though the USPS posted a press release on 22 July 2009. Free Shipping on any purchase over $25

According to the press release,

“The Morgan green roof is the largest in New York and one of the largest in the country,” said Sam Pulcrano, vice president, Sustainability. “Not only does it provide employees with a beautiful, serene outdoor environment, the green roof will help us meet our goal to reduce energy usage 30 percent by 2015.”

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The USPS wisely noted the value of green roofs, namely, reduced energy usage, as well as storm water runoff management. Additionally, green roofs reduce fine particulate matter air pollution. Of course, they are beautiful also! Chuck Norris wants YOU to get into shape! - Total Gym® Official Store. Try Total Gym® for 30 Days for only $1 - FREE Shipping.

As a US taxpayer, I am glad to see my money being spent in such a responsible way! Let's hope we see more green roofs, not just in New York City, but also in places such as Shanghai, Bangalore, and more in Mexico City.