Advantages of
Green Roofs

According to studies conducted at Penn State University,
in Europe, and elsewhere, green roofs can provide
significant advantages in many applications.

Benefits of Implementation of green roof technologies:   

• Reduce sewage system loads by assimilating large amounts of rainwater.
• Reduce urban heat island effects.
• Absorb air pollution, airborne particulates, and store carbon.
• Protect underlying roof material by eliminating exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation and extreme daily temperature fluctuations
• Increase the application lifecycle of the roof membrane
• Serve as living environments that provide habitats for a myriad of species.
• Offer an attractive alternative to traditional roofs, addressing growing concerns about urban quality of life.
• Reduce noise transfer from the outdoors
• Insulate a building from extreme cold and heat temperatures
• Reduce Heating costs
• Reduce Cooling costs

PRIMITIVE COMMON SENSE 
MEETS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY 

The impermeable quality of traditional building materials makes storm water a problem, since there is nothing to prevent rainwater from rushing off rooftops, collecting pollution and heavy metal contamination along the way, and then overburdening urban sewage systems. Green roof strategies have been found to hold the pollutants in their soil while retaining up to 80 percent of the water and subsequently allowing it to return to the atmosphere through evaporation.

Concrete landscapes also offer nothing to support the insects, birds and other wildlife that depend on vegetation to survive. Much like planting native gardens and backyard habitats, roof gardens can complement wild areas by providing "stepping stones" for songbirds and other wildlife facing shortages of natural habitat. Even in high-rise urban settings as tall as 19 stories high, it has been found that green roofs can attract beneficial insects, birds, bees and butterflies.

Sometimes known as "living roofs" or "eco-roofs," green roofs have also been found to extend roof life and to reduce heating and cooling costs dramatically.

By creating a SAFE green roof layered with soil and plants, you not only add natural beauty to a landscape increasingly dominated by concrete and pavement. You also help reduce the urban heat island effect, by which cities tend to be several degrees hotter than surrounding areas, and you provide a roof-garden habitat for insects, songbirds and other wildlife.

Unlike the natural green areas that once covered the earth, most cities and suburbs are made primarily in shades of gray and black. Functional as they may be, the asphalt roads and tar roofs responsible for those drab colors also cause a host of problems:

These manmade materials soak up the sun's radiation and reflect it back as heat, making cities at least 7 degrees hotter than surrounding areas. For example in a Northern  seasonal climate: On Chicago's City Hall, which features a green roof, temperatures on a hot day are typically 25 to 80 degrees cooler than they are on traditionally roofed buildings nearby. If all the roofs in a major city were "greened," urban temperatures could be reduced by as much as 12 degrees.   In Southern climates 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.

"Investing in new 'green' technologies to reduce stormwater pollution, conserve energy and protect our rivers, lakes and springs will further water quality protection and provide clean water to meet future water supply needs," said DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole. "This project is a great and leading example of how to adopt environmentally sustainable practices that not only protect natural resources but also help reduce the potential for some of the harmful effects of climate change."