More Trends in Green Roofing Materials
Recently the U.S. Green Building Council released a report entitled “LEED in Motion” outlining the progress of green building in the United States and extrapolating the data into the future. The results of the study were quite impressive. Currently 4.3 million people in the U.S. live or work in a LEED certified building. Currently, green building makes up 44% of new construction, and is expected to increase to 55% by 2016. This will mean more than half of new construction will be dedicated to green building. With all of this growth in the green building industry, it isn’t surprising that we are seeing a rise in the variety of green roofing materials available. We outlined a few in an earlier blog post, and since then have come across a few more green roofing innovations that we think you will be interested in.
Enviroshake
Enviroshake is green roofing shingle that looks like wood shake, but is made from recycled fiber composite. Not only is it made from recycled material, but it doesn’t have any of the roof maintenance associated with wood shake. It can also last upwards of 50 years, reducing the use of new roofing materials. Recently a state park in Watertown, NY installed Enviroshake on their center pavilion.
Pre-Vegetated Roof Mats
Green roofs are growing in popularity, doubling as both a convenient garden location and an environmentally friendly roofing option. They help with flooding and quality of drinking water, and reduce HVAC costs by absorbing the suns rays. A company in NC is taking green roofs to the next level by selling pre-vegetated roofing mats planted with moss and sedum that can then be rolled out onto a roof like sod. Underneath the plants the mats have growing medium, water retention fleece, drain mat and root barrier.
A Green Laboratory
The Chicago Botanic Gardens are also working on improving green roofs. They have planted an experimental roof garden over The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center for the purpose of determining the best plants for green roofs. They are studying 400,000 plants of over 200 different species for performance in an extreme roof environment. They are pioneering the research in the area of green roofs.
It’s always interesting to see innovations in green construction during this technologically and environmentally focused time. Will any of you be making use of these innovations in green roofing?
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