Read the full story in Building Design & Construction.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has announced that the city of Toronto has passed a new green roof by-law with overwhelming support yesterday. The green roof by-law consists of a green roof construction standard and a mandatory requirement for green roofs on all classes of new buildings. The by-law requires up to 50% green roof coverage on multi-unit residential dwellings over six stories, schools, non-profit housing, and commercial and industrial buildings. Larger residential projects require greater green roof coverage, ranging anywhere from 20-50% of the roof area.

The American Society of Landscape Architects announces the availability of The Roof is Growing!, an educational resource for middle-school students and teachers about green roofs and their environmental benefits. The resource includes lessons, a student workbook, and online interactive program designed to engage students on how green roofs cool cities, clean the air, create habitats and control storm water. Read more at The Roof is Growing.

Read the full story from Associated Construction Publications.

The use of garden roof systems is relatively new in the U.S. However, as energy costs rise and environmental awareness increases, the idea of vegetative roofing is poised to become much more common place. In fact, a number of major cities and large property owners are already looking at these ecological roofing solutions. According to Brad Rowe, a Michigan State University horticulture professor and chairperson of the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) Research Committee, the garden roofing industry is growing rapidly. The area covered by garden roofs increased 80 percent between 2005 and 2006 in the United States.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

The first study to compare the performance of different types of green roofs has been completed by The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and suggests that buyers shouldn’t assume these roofs are created equal.

Interest in vegetated roofs has increased as water and energy conservation becomes more important to property owners. Yet the study of six different manufacturers’ products found the green roofs varied greatly in capabilities such as how much they cooled down a building’s interior and how much rainwater they captured during downpours.

riday, July 25, 2008
http://cms.h2e-online.org/teleconferences/calendar/details/420

1:00 eastern, 12:00 central, 11:00 mountain and 10:00 pacific and will last for 90 minutes.

Earn 1.5 AIA CEUs: Upon the completion of the session, registered attendees will receive an email with a web address to register for their AIA certificate.

Note: Access to Practice Greenhealth webinars is a fee-based service, and is one of many member benefits. You can learn more about the fees and benefits of membership by going to our website, and you can join on-line as well. See http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/community/membership/

Access to a single webinar is also available for $150 or by purchasing an annual subscription for $795. See http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/tools/webinars/

Topic
Hospitals are often one of the largest consumers of water resources in their community. In this Webinar, you’ll learn about the impact of laundry and stormwater on healthcare’s ‘aquaprint’. In the summer of 2007 Metro Health Hospital installed a 1 acre vegetative roof along with 3 bio-retention swales as design strategies to mitigate storm water run off. These design features were submitted as a part of Metro’s LEED certification. The two designs are undergoing a study to measure storm water runoff. John Ebers from Metro Health will describe the benefits of the project, and lessons learned. Next, Ken Tyler will discuss the impact of Laundry Operations on a hospital’s environmental footprint, and how that impact can be reduced. He will review several case studies during his presentation.

Who should attend:
Anyone involved in the operation, design, construction and engineering of healthcare facilities.
Take Home Value (THV)

1. The qualitative and quantitative benefits of a vegetative roof
2. The qualitative benefits of a bioretention swale
3. Implementation Lessons learned
4. Introduction of laundry industry data
5. Definition of laundry services
6. Impact on water savings-how and why
7. Construction and Equipment Alternatives
8. Greening a Laundry from top to bottom

Presenters

• John Ebers, Metro Health Hospital
• Ken Tyler, HRLLD, CFM, Encompass LLC

Please note, this webinar will take advantage of updated technology. Your confirmation email will list the phone number and web address required to access the call. No visual presentation will be available for download on the site.
To register for the webinar:
http://cms.h2e-online.org/teleconferences/calendar/details/420

The call is at 1:00 eastern, Noon central, 11:00 mountain and 10:00 pacific time. The call will last approximately 90 minutes.

Earn 1.5 AIA CEUs: Upon the completion of the session, registered attendees will receive an email with a web address to register for their AIA certificate.

Join us! Questions? Call Mark Tecca at 866-548-2140 or email education@practicegreenhealth.org.

Read the full story in E The Environmental Magazine.

Green roofs are nothing new. In their book, Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls, Nigel Dunnett and Nöel Kingsbury report that the idea has “been [around] for centuries.” Historically, say the authors, people in present-day Turkey, Iraq and Iran built homes of mud or earth with grass-covered rooftops.

The ancient practice is enjoying a resurgence. In the U.S., noteworthy green examples include the Pentagon, Chicago’s City Hall, a Ford assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan and numerous buildings in Portland, Oregon.

Read the full story in the International Herald Tribune.

As climate change raises the alternating risks of urban flooding and drought, cities around the world are seeking better ways to manage water. In Europe and North America, two strategies are becoming increasingly popular: installing “green” roofs covered in vegetation and collecting rainwater for household use.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

As more urban homeowners look for ways to green their personal corner of the asphalt jungle, green residential rooftops are a growing trend. Covering house or garage tops with plants slows movement of water into city sewer systems and helps lessen the urban heat island effect, lowering heating and cooling costs.

Green roofs also soften and beautify harsh landscapes, and can act as sound barriers to city clatter.

Read the full story in Today’s Facility Manager.

In May 2006, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) began to monitor the performance of a green roof installed on its Washington, DC headquarters building.

Read the full story in The Age.

Of all the cities in the United States, Chicago might be the most ready for something like Earth Hour.

For much of the past decade, Chicago has pioneered a “green roofs” program: literally gardens growing on roof tops, which officials say cool buildings and mean less power is consumed.

Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.

The New York City Council passed legislation on Jan. 30 to advance the implementation of green design elements into the city’s streets, parks, and other public spaces and into existing and new development projects.

By adopting “green infrastructure” solutions, such as green roofs, permeable pavement, wetland restoration, and smarter design of street tree plantings, stormwater can be captured where it falls and used to green the city, instead of overwhelming sewers and flushing raw sewage into city waterways. The legislation ensures that the city will follow through with the initiatives outlined in Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030, by requiring the development of a city-wide Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan focusing on such measures. The mayor is expected to sign it into law.

Read the full story in the Albany Times-Union.

The headquarters of the Social Justice Center will get one of the first “green” roofs in the city to help clean the air and insulate the building.

Read the full story in the Kane County Chronicle.

An outdoor skating rink, green roofs, and about 800 apartments and condominiums could be built on the vacant St. Charles Mall site.

Read the full story in Water & Wastewater Products.

Monitoring results from the first two years of operation of a 1,600-square foot “green roof” at the University of Central Florida found that it can retain 80 percent of the average annual stormwater volume from its surface, thereby reducing flooding and water pollution.

Additionally, using stormwater to irrigate the green roof reduces the need for potable water for irrigation, one of the biggest uses of potable water in the state, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently announced.

Read the full story in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

A building at Peterson Air Force Base will be in full bloom next spring after construction workers finish installing its flowering roof next month.

The project is a first in the region and is being closely watched by Pentagon planners weighing the virtues of “green roofs” that use soil and plants instead of shingles.

The roof is supposed to help reduce energy costs in the 21st Space Wing’s headquarters building, which is having its 19,000-square-foot roof covered with several inches of soil and planted with sedum, which is often used in rock gardens.

The soil is expected to improve the building’s insulation from low winter temperatures and the heat of summer, and the designers say the thirsty sedum, which stores water in its leaves, will eliminate 90 percent of the building’s stormwater runoff.

From the Rapid Growth blog:

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Vegetative roofs are increasingly popular in the push to build green, sustainable buildings. But do they really reduce storm water runoff and thereby prevent pollution from fouling our rivers and streams? Lab studies show green roofs work in principle; mockup systems prove it. But there are far fewer studies in the real world to prove their effectiveness.

Clinton Boyd, senior scientist at Sustainable Research Group is about to change all that.

Metro Health enlisted Boyd to conduct the first-ever three-year study of a green roof in a natural environment—on top of Metro Health’s new Wyoming, MI hospital. Boyd will monitor the quantity of storm water released from the roof, and the effectiveness of the parking lot rain gardens – or bioswales - in removing pollutants from the runoff.

“With a conventional roof, the storm water picks up heat from the roof and pollutants as it runs across other surfaces,” Boyd says. “The theory of a green roof is that it retains the rainwater, and over time, the plants use the water and release it through their leaves (evapotranspiration), lessening the quantity of storm water generated from the roof.”

Boyd has installed a digital data management system to measure water discharge, and a weather station that calculates the amount of rain that hits the roof.

To test the bioswales, Boyd is designing a way to capture samples of storm water before and after it enters the bioswales. He’ll test both samples for the same pollutants, such as, metals, greases, oils, nitrates, and phosphates.

At 48,000 square feet, the roof is the second largest green roof in Michigan. Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Plant is the largest.

Source: Clinton Boyd, Sustainable Research Group

Read the full story in the Lake County News-Sun.

The College of Lake County’s new Southlake Educational Center is touting Lake County’s first energy-saving “green” roof.

Read the full story in the Grand Haven Tribune.

Special “live roof” systems developed by a division of Hortech Inc. of Nunica were laid out Tuesday above the dumpsters in the two reconstructed municipal lots along Franklin Avenue between First and Third streets. The plantings were set in designs, according to an architect’s chart, by workers from the Grand Haven Garden House.

Read the full story in the Chi-Town Daily News.

At a ceremony last week on the Magnificent Mile, Mayor Richard M. Daley cut the ribbon on Chicago’s newest green roof.

“There are huge benefits,” Daley said, citing the environmental effects of green roofs.

Daley’s green roof program started with installation of trees and shrubs on top of City Hall in 2001, and has grown to include 300 additional projects.

But assessing the environmental impact of green roofs is a difficult task. Advocates say the roofs reduce temperatures in urban areas, control storm run-off and cut energy bills.  Five scientists interviewed by the Daily News, though, said there are no studies proving those benefits on a citywide level.

Read the full story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rice paddies and orchards on city rooftops could become reality with a plan to green Sydney’s roofs.

A group of architects and environmentalists will explore ways to green the CBD’s rooftops following approval of a $48,000 grant from the City of Sydney council.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson celebrated Earth Day by signing a statement of intent at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center with four environmental organizations to promote the use of “green infrastructure” approaches, such as rain-catching roofs and gardens, to lessen sewer overflows and runoff after storms.  (more…)

Make plans to attend the 5th Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference Awards and Trade Show, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 29, 30 and May 1, 2007, co-sponsored by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the City of Minneapolis. Learn from dynamic plenary and concurrent sessions featuring presentations by green roof experts from around the world. Explore what’s new in green roof technology, products, and services with over 75 trade show exhibitors. Network with more than 1000 global green roof leaders in all areas of green roofs.

For more information: http://greenroofs.org/minneapolis/index.php

Read the full story in Building Design + Construction.

At today’s official grand opening of the EPA Region 8 headquarters building, the roof, with 40,000 different plants and a stunning view of Denver’s skyline, is sure to take center stage.

“It’s the first green roof in downtown Denver,” said Aaron Nelson, project manager for the nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado.

The group is a neighbor of the new EPA building, which was built on the site of the former Postal Annex building at 15th and Wynkoop streets.

Read the full story in Building Design + Constuction.

As the popularity of vegetated roofs grows in the U.S., Building Teams are finding new methods for greening rooftops. A recent trend is to adapt green roof technology for low- and steep-slope applications.

While the basic components of a sloped green roof are similar to that of a flat system, Building Teams must pay particular attention to water management, erosion control, and maintenance.

BD+C asked several green roof specialists who have worked on sloped systems for their advice on designing and building these systems.

Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

Plants take root on a college building in Pasadena and elsewhere as cities see economic and environmental benefits of going ‘green.’

Read the full article in E: The Environmental Magazine.

Standing on the rooftop at St. Simon Stock Catholic School on East 182nd Street in the Bronx, New York, Daniel Simon, marketing director of the Gaia Institute, points to a neighboring high-rise apartment building. A couple is looking down from a high window over the rooftop garden. “Those people have been living here a long time,” says Simon, “and one day they had a green roof to look at instead of city construction.”

Read the full article in Christianity Today.

Although most people are aware of the concept of environmentally friendly design, which has been around since the 1970s, Spuler says many aren’t aware of recent advances. The implementation of new technology is especially important today given the huge spike in energy costs over the past few years.

Read the full story at ENN.

A handful of buildings in Canada’s biggest city are going green on top in an effort to help the environment and reduce global warming, but the city admits its plan for high-rise gardens has barely taken root.

Read the full story in the Traverse City Record Eagle.

General Motors Corp. on Thursday showed off its newest assembly plant, a “green” facility that collects rainwater from the roof to flush toilets and was built with one-fourth recycled materials.

Read the full story in Realty Times.

Originally a frontier outpost, Chicago, IL, has been a major railroad yard, a packing center, a town of labor unrest, a gangsters’ den, a town of political unrest, and a sports fanatic’s dream home.

So, the rough and tumble town’s latest claim to fame may come as a surprise.

The Windy City is the nation’s leader in green that can’t be seen from street level.

Green roofs.

Read more about the project and see some very cute ducklings.

The University of Wisconsin Great Lakes WATER Institute (GLWI) building is situated on Milwaukee’s inner harbor. Surrounded by paved roadways and cement docks and walkways, the building itself supports 86,700 ft² of horizontal asphalt and pea gravel rooftop.

In 2003, a 7,600 ft² first-floor section of the GLWI roof was converted to a vegetated ‘green’ roof in order to demonstrate an innovative and cost-effective stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) for the Milwaukee metro area and University of Wisconsin System. The installation and maintenance of the GLWI green roof offers a working model of an aesthetically-impressive stormwater mitigation strategy that is especially suited to dense urban development. In collaboration with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District through their Stormwater BMP Partnership Program, funding has been secured to make this pilot GLWI green roof a reality.

Via Treehugger:

A 10,000 square foot green roof was recently installed on the Bronx County Building by J.P. Patti and Magco, Inc, divisions of Tecta America.

The semi-extensive green roof, designed by Green Roof Service is the largest in the Bronx, and the first on a New York City owned building. Bronx Borough President, Adolfo Carrion, Jr., said: “I am very excited that my office is able to provide this green roof as a gift to New York City. I hope that this demonstration green roof project will inspire the City to install green roofs on other city-owned buildings”.

The green roof will help retain storm water, filter air, and reduce the urban heat island effect. It will also provide noise reduction and energy savings of between 10-15%. Perhaps the roof’s proximity to Yankee Stadium will also help inspire George Steinbrenner to incorporate green building techniques into plans for his team’s new ballpark.

See also ::Green Roofs: A primer and ::Chicago Wal-Mart to Sprout Green Roof

Via Hugg:

A commenter at sustainablog offered an intriguing “win-win” to the conflict at Los Angeles’ South Central Farm: let Ralph Horowitz build his warehouse, and then put a green roof on it for the farmers to grow their crops! We’re not sure how practical this solution is, and would love to hear from others more knowledgeable about such an engineering challenge.  » original news

Read the full story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Loans for green roofs and energy-efficient heating helped boost ShoreBank Corp.’s conservation loan portfolio by 16 percent from a year earlier.