Rewards of Having a Rooftop Garden

Rooftop gardening wouldn’t be so popular without a good reason. One obvious reason people like these gardens are because they are beautiful. In addition to the aesthetic reward, this type of garden will also improve the quality of air, increase building insulation, and reduce a building’s heat absorption.

Building Your Garden in the Sky

You can’t just flip a switch and instantly have your own rooftop garden. You have to plant it. In order to do so, there are many layers to construct.

To build a garden fit for flowers requires several layers to be constructed:

• Waterproof layer – The base layer. Added to the existing surface, this will give greater security and peace of mind even if the roof is already soundly waterproof.
• Roof membrane – Waterproofing layers, such as asphalt and bitumen, are very susceptible to damage from plant roots and any root penetration may lead to leaks. A pond liner or butyl lining or 300 micron damp-proof polythene should be laid over the waterproof layer and, wherever possible, in one continuous sheet. Otherwise, the sheets should overlap by at least 20cm.
• Filter sheet – This sheet allows moisture to drain off of the roof whilst ensuring fine materials don’t escape.
• Moisture Blanket – For extensive living roofs, this blanket will ensure that the growing medium contains enough moisture to support life. Commercial ones can be bought which do not degrade but it is possible to use cardboard or old blankets to achieve the same effect.
• Drainage Layer – Like the moisture blanket, this helps to retain moisture while allowing excess water to drain away. Commercial systems store water and are made of plastic or geotextile materials. Sedum mat on the roof of an extension.
• Soils & Substrates – The top layer. The growing medium should be lightweight and free-draining yet of a material that retains moisture. Many people use aggregates mixed with light sub-soils such as crushed porous brick and limestone chippings.
• Seeds & Plants – Sow seeds on the substrate, or put in plug plants (small plants in individual cells) and watch them grow!

Source: The Environment Site

If you think that setting up a roof garden on your own might be too much work, there are professionals who can help you for a price. Pre-made roof gardens are also available in cost-effective “container gardens”. Container gardens are also beneficial if you would rather not cover your entire roof with plants. They are easy to install and reasonably priced.

Plants for Your Rooftop Garden

Depending on the climate in your area and your personal preference, you can select from a variety of plants to include in your garden. Fruit trees, junipers, bushes, grasses, and sturdy shrubs are just the kind of plants you want when your roof is an open place that gets a lot of sunshine and robust winds. Flowers like peonies and lilies are not suitable for sheltered roofs. However, sedum, ferns and moss can survive any kind of rooftop conditions.

Now that you know the benefits of having a green roof, you should consider planting one. It will allow you to conserve energy spent on cooling down your home during hot days, and it will provide insulation in the winter. Most importantly, you will be doing your house a favor by making it even more beautiful.

One of the key selling points of the eat local movement is that it will reduce the carbon footprint. But, recent  studies by leading environmental scientists say that our food prodution and distribution systems are so complex, that a simple  “eat local” solution may not be the answer.

The most recent analysis, headed up by David Cleveland, a professor of environmental studies at U.C. Santa Barbara, looked at fruit and vegetable production in Santa Barbara County, a bountiful pannier of fruit and vegetable yields. The county is among the nation’s top one percent in terms of agricultural value overall.

And Santa Barbara, with its farmers markets, organic farming, burgeoning networks of Community Supported Agriculture, and other deep-green bona fides, would seem a ripe locale for the food localization movement.

But Professor Cleveland and his co-authors, most of them former undergraduate students in the Environmental Studies Program, found more than 99 percent of the produce produced in Santa Barbara County is, in fact, exported, and roughly 95 percent of the produce consumed in the county is imported from elsewhere.

Some of the food is shipped in from from far-flung spots in Chile and Argentina.

Year of Plenty blog was not surprised at the findings but says just because the study found that eating local only reduces carbon gas emissions by less than Cpercent, is not a strong argument against eating local.

I think it’s important to note in this conversation that the current far-flung food system is highly dependent on cheap and abundant supplies of oil. From fertilizer, to pesticides, to diesel fuel for semi-trucks and tractors. The main reason the transport of food is only 1% of total agrifood emissions is that there is so much fuel used in the rest of the system. When oil prices spike there are a lot of food companies that would love to shave 1% of their fuel expenses off the bottomline.

The “eat local” movement is complex.

Natural Home magazine named Chapel Hill North Carolina’s  Greenbridge project as one of the country’s 10 most green housing developments.

The development, which includes mostly vacant office and retail space, has 97 condominium units ranging from $250,000 to more than $1 million for penthouses atop its two towers, the second of which is seven-stories. Recycled products  were used throughout the building, and more than 50 solar thermal panels on the roof of its 10-story tower will provide over 15 percent of its hot water demand.

However, the project, which broke ground in 2008 is now in foreclosure.

If such a building can’t succeed in progressive Chapel Hill, home to the University of North Carolina and part of a regional economy driven by high-tech research, can large-scale green designs succeed anywhere?

“I would be afraid that the broader market, regional or national, would think this project is in foreclosure because it’s green. That would be a mistake,” said Chris Wedding, who teaches about green building at the university’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Wedding, who attended Greenbridge’s groundbreaking and has followed its financial troubles, said the project faces foreclosure mainly because it went up during a recession and developers made costly design and construction decisions.

New Utility Scale Financing Options
The new options The new financing options make it possible to do dramatically more detailed utility-scale financial analysis than was possible with previous versions.

CEC PV Module Model Mounting Options
Based on research done for the SAM team by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, new mounting options in the CEC PV module model have been incorporated that account for the impact on cell temperature of different mounting types, such as open racks, gap mounting, and BIPV.

Improved PV Cost Details
The PV System Costs page now has options for specifying balance of system costs as fixed, cost per unit of system nameplate capacity, or cost per unit of module area. New stacked bar graphs are also available to show the cost breakdown for the real LCOE, the nominal LCOE and installed cost per Watt.

Geothermal Power Model
SAM now models small coproduction geothermal power plants in addition to large plants. This allows for calculating the value of co-producing geothermal power at the site of an oil or gas well.

Utility Scale Wind Model
The hourly small-scale wind model has been extended to work for utility-scale projects. We plan to offer this model with utility-scale wind data from 3Tier, downloadable directly from SAM. As of this Beta release, the web service is not yet publicly available, but we included the capability in the interface for your review.

There are quite a few other changes. To download the updated version of the model, visit the NREL’s download page.

Why use the model?

Use of the SAM software – together with technology and cost benchmarking, market penetration analysis, and other relevant considerations – supports development of program priorities and direction, and the subsequent investment needed to support solar R&D activities.

But, most important, it promotes the use of a consistent methodology for analysis across all solar technologies, including financing and cost assumptions.

In 2009, The International Living Future Institute issued its Living Building Challenge 2.0.

The Bertschi School, an independent elementary school, decided to try to meet the challenge. Working in partnership with the The Restorative Design Collective, the school designed and built the first living building in the state of Washington.

The Living Building Science Wing allows us to expand upon current components of the science curriculum, such as rainwater harvesting and solar energy. In addition, students will learn about passive ventilation, net-zero water and net-zero energy consumption, concepts that will push their thinking and understanding decades into the future. For our students, this building truly brings learning to life, offering an unparalleled educational experience.

From Treehugger:

The Living Building Challenge 2.0 is the toughest green standard anywhere, and water is a key component of it; it envisions a future where water is harvested, purified and reused entirely on site. Meeting it is difficult and in many locations, even illegal, as they note:

Currently, such practices are often illegal due to health, land use and building code regulations, or by the undemocratic ownership of water rights, which arose precisely because people were not properly safeguarding the quality of their water. Therefore, reaching the ideal for water use means challenging outdated attitudes and technology with decentralized site- or district-level solutions that are appropriately scaled and efficient.

Image Credit: Bertschi School

The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. This is a news report from NBC News on the 20 million people who participated that day.

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media.

There are literally hundreds of apps for smartphones that can help you become greener. EcoSalon has a list of its top 10. Inhabitat has a list of its 7 favorite Green Apps and Treehugger recently announced that 1-800 recycle.com was awarded best app by that organization.

Want to save even more water?

By not rinsing your plates before you put them in the dishwasher, you will save an average of 15 gallons of water per load. You will also save the energy needed to pump the water to your home, plus you’ll save energy if you’re using warm water to pre-rinse. Aside from conserving water and energy, not pre-rinsing dishes will save you time, effort and money, and possibly prevent damage to your glassware.

Want to save even more money?

Look for products with a WaterSense label.

Homes with high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances save about 30% of indoor water use and yield substantial savings on water, sewer, and energy bills.

Green Building Product Dealer

The list includes products in the following categories:

• Certified Wood
• Flooring
• Landscaping
• Gypsum Board
• Building Envelope
• Interior Finishes
• Water Heating
• Windows
• Lighting

Each category has links to at least one and in some cases several websites where you can learn more information about the various products. The products were judged on their ability to That reduce a building’s energy costs and water usage, minimize waste of resources, and provide new design options – at prices that have proven competitive to conventional practices.

You still have time to register. Just Click here and you could be in Las Vegas on Monday April 4th.

This is the largest convention of its kind for the wall and ceiling industry. For a preview of the week’s activities, check out their online brochure.

Greenscaping is when you create pesticide-free landscaping. According to the EPA, GreenScaping encompasses a set of landscaping practices that can improve the health and appearance of your lawn and garden while protecting and preserving natural resources.

The EPA has an entire web page devoted to greenscaping providing information on why its beneficial to both the home owners bottom line as well as one that is healthier for families, pets and the environment.

The EPA outlines five steps to create a greenscaped yard.

1. Build and maintain healthy soil
2. Plant right for your site
3. Practice smart watering
4. Adopt a holistic approach to pest management
5. Practice natural lawn care

The web page on greenscaping is full of great information on everything from using safe fertilizers to mulching and making space for wildlife.