{"id":3825,"date":"2010-08-04T18:17:59","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T22:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=3825"},"modified":"2010-08-04T18:17:59","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T22:17:59","slug":"green-roofs-not-just-for-looks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2010\/08\/04\/green-roofs-not-just-for-looks\/","title":{"rendered":"Green roofs: not just for looks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This post contributed by Terence Houston, incoming ESA Policy Analyst<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2010\/08\/800px-20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3826 img-fluid\" style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 6px\" title=\"Chicago City Hall\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2010\/08\/800px-20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"493\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2010\/08\/800px-20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof.jpg 800w, https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2010\/08\/800px-20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2010\/08\/800px-20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000\">What is an innovative method to reduce both heating and cooling in buildings, reduce storm water run-off, preserve natural habitats and even refrigerate warehouse beer? According to scientists at the Ecological Society of America\u2019s 95<sup>th<\/sup> Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2010-08\/esoa-suh062910.php\">green roofs<\/a>.\u00a0These vegetated roofs, as the ecologists explained <a href=\"http:\/\/eco.confex.com\/eco\/2010\/techprogram\/S5544.HTM\">yesterday<\/a> in \u201cRooftop ecology: what is a green roof and why should ecologists care?\u201d provide a wide array of economic, architectural and environmental benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Colleen Butler of Tufts University, and moderator of the session, suggested the use of sedum\u2014flowering plants known for their water-storing leaves\u2014during the talk \u201cLinking the plasticity to success of sedum on a green roof.\u201d Sedum has been cited as one of the most commonly used plants in green roof planning due to its drought tolerance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Bradley Rowe of Michigan State University answered the question of whether green roofs can sequester carbon with a conditional \u201cyes.\u201d He explained that the efficiency depended on a set of variables, including the amount of biomass as well as the design and length of the individual roof. It was also noted that a large green roof had the capability to help keep the contents in a warehouse up to 30 degrees <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ratebeer.com\/Story.asp?StoryID=479\">Celsius<\/a> below the outside temperature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman of the University of Arizona highlighted the importance of using indigenous plants in sustaining green roofs that can thrive in semi-arid urban ecosystems such as Tucson, AZ. His research highlighted the ability to sustain green roofs in non-temperate environments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Many of the speakers agreed that selecting a variety of plant species for green roofs can also help create greater synergy and promote roof longevity. As benefits continue to be discovered, green roofs may play an increasingly integral part in the germination of new ideas and methods to both sustain and improve the quality of our natural, and architectural, surroundings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:20080708_Chicago_City_Hall_Green_Roof.JPG\">TonyTheTiger<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is an innovative method to reduce both heating and cooling in buildings, reduce storm water run-off, preserve natural habitats and even refrigerate warehouse beer? According to scientists at the Ecological Society of America\u2019s 95th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh: green roofs. These vegetated roofs, as the ecologists explained yesterday  in \u201cRooftop ecology: what is a green roof and why should ecologists care?\u201d provide a wide array of economic, architectural and environmental benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[904,826,905,906,907,908],"class_list":["post-3825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","tag-architecture","tag-green","tag-green-building","tag-green-roof","tag-planning","tag-vegetation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}