Green Roof Commercial Buildings

Here in central kentucky we are seeing green roof projects crop up in spaces including a dorm at the university of kentucky campus.

Green roof commercial buildings.

An important aspect of green infrastructure commercial green roofs help to lower carbon emissions improve air quality and reduce energy consumption among many other benefits of a green roof installation. The economic benefits of installing green roofs include. On public structures such as government owned buildings schools libraries or community centres and on private structures such as residential houses apartment buildings and commercial buildings. Commercial building owners may also want to consider going green and choosing an eco friendly green roof for their commercial roofing needs.

Green roofs provide a range of environmental functional and cost advantages that are increasingly desired for commercial buildings. Gsa s green roof report estimated that green roofs on commercial and public buildings provide a payback based on 50 year average annual savings of about 6 2 years nationally internal rate of return of 5 2 and an roi of 224 based on a net present value of 2 7 square foot. Green roofs reduce the temperature of the building and the surrounding air in multiple ways. Primary green roof costs are related to installation and maintenance.

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium planted over a waterproofing membrane it may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems. The plants in a green roof absorb water through their roots and then use surrounding heat from the air to evaporate the water while some roofs can reach temperatures of up to 90 f in the summertime these two features can allow. Green roofs provide green space in concrete jungles from rooftop gardens on high rise buildings to vegetative rooftops that serve to reduce energy expenses. Green roofs are contained areas of vegetation such as trees shrubs crops or grasses planted on top of a human made structure.

Made with hardy varieties of succulents. Plant respiration and the insulation shading and thermal mass of the plant and soil layers. Toronto was the first city in north america to pass a green roof law in 2009 requiring new buildings or additions that are greater than 21 000 square feet to cover between 20 and 60 percent of. The economic costs of installing green roofs on commercial and public buildings include the cost of.

Lower energy costs due to the cooling effect of. They provide shade to the top of a building evapotranspiration. Container gardens on roofs where plants are maintained in pots are not generally considered to be true green roofs although. Green roofs can be found anywhere.