What’s the good of a green roof?

A green roof is an interesting idea that may seem exotic to many. Not so! Anyone can have a green roof and it can do you a world of good.

Courtesy of Jeff and Christine of Newport, KY

Why a green roof?

• Reduces the temperature of the surrounding air, reducing the Urban Heat Island effect (I’m planning to go into a bit more detail about this in a few days, but suffice to say that cities are often hotter than the surrounding rural areas because of the building materials, lack of green space, and density).
• Reduces storm water runoff. Sewers backing up around you after a few days of rain? The ones on my street are. If your roof was absorbing it’s share of that water instead of redirecting it down the drain spout and into the sewer, there’s a significantly lower chance for overflow and backing-up.
• You can breathe easier with a green roof around because plants = oxygen.
• Urban gardening is a way to bring the farmer out of any city dweller. You can read more about that at this Low Impact Man post.
• Check out this Live Green Cincinnati video pod about dream green roof.

Want to see a green roof?

• Jeff and Christine in Newport have installed their own green roof.
• The Civic Garden Center also has plans for their own green roof.

Want to learn to design a green roof?

Register for the Green Roof Design 101 course offered by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities at the Drake Center on Wednesday June 11. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn from Virginia Russell, a Registered Landscape Architect and LEED AP who also teaches at UC. CEU credits are offered.

See you there!