Winterizing the Green Roof

Green roofs are becoming more popular in North America. They bring nature into the urban environment, soften the view for people and provide habitat for insects and wild birds. They also have been shown to absorb noise pollution, alleviate stormwater runoff and help keep buildings cooler in summer. Canadian researchers, working in Ottawa and Toronto, have been testing designs for northern green roofs. A few simple changes to the typical green roof design resulted in dramatic reductions of heat loss from the buildings.

Typical green roofs use grasses, wildflowers and other low-growing plants in shallow soil beds - as little as 6 centimetres. The Canadian research team chose a plant that was well suited to the north. Juniper shrubs were planted to help reduce the effect of windspeed, which draws heat from the building. Deeper beds were constructed to form insulation against heat loss. Even in an experiment on a carefully designed energy-efficient house, the addition of a green roof resulted in a reduction of heat-loss around 8½ percent.

Link:
Green Roof Technology Adapted to Cold Climates from EnviroZine, online publication of Environment Canada

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 1:41 PM on February 22, 2006

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