**Environmental Benefits**:
– Green roofs reduce heating and cooling energy consumption.
– Mitigate the urban heat island effect by cooling cities.
– Reduce stormwater runoff by up to 75%.
– Slow down the rate of runoff and retain pollutants.
– Can reduce urban temperatures by up to 7°C (13°F).
**Thermal Reduction and Energy Conservation**:
– Reduce heat loss and energy consumption in winter.
– Cool cities by 0.1 to 0.8°C (0.2 to 1.4°F) when widely implemented.
– Reduce cooling loads on buildings by 50-90%.
– Cities with green roofs are typically cooler.
– Incentives and regulations encourage green roof implementation.
**Water Management**:
– Store and release rainwater gradually.
– Reduce water runoff by over 75% during rainstorms.
– Comply with local regulations on stormwater management.
– Help prevent wastewater system overload during heavy storms.
– Retain pollutants and slow the rate of runoff.
**Ecological Benefits**:
– Create natural habitats for insects, birds, and wildlife.
– Attract beneficial insects, bees, and butterflies.
– Act as green walls, filtering pollutants from the air.
– Complement wild areas by providing habitat stepping stones.
– Help lower rates of diseases like asthma by filtering pollutants.
**Carbon Sequestration**:
– Sequester carbon through plant matter and soil.
– Store carbon in plant tissue and soil substrate.
– Indirectly reduce CO2 emissions given off by power plants.
– Variations in carbon sequestration occur among different plant species.
– Improve carbon sequestration by changing plant species.
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. Container gardens on roofs, where plants are maintained in pots, are not generally considered to be true green roofs, although this is debated. Rooftop ponds are another form of green roofs which are used to treat greywater. Vegetation, soil, drainage layer, roof barrier and irrigation system constitute green roof.
Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, increasing benevolence, and decreasing stress of the people around the roof by providing a more aesthetically pleasing landscape, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect. Green roofs are suitable for retrofit or redevelopment projects as well as new buildings and can be installed on small garages or larger industrial, commercial and municipal buildings. They effectively use the natural functions of plants to filter water and treat air in urban and suburban landscapes. There are two types of green roof: intensive roofs, which are thicker, with a minimum depth of 12.8 cm (5+1⁄16 in), and can support a wider variety of plants but are heavier and require more maintenance, and extensive roofs, which are shallow, ranging in depth from 2 to 12.7 cm (13⁄16 to 5 in), lighter than intensive green roofs, and require minimal maintenance.
The term green roof may also be used to indicate roofs that use some form of green technology, such as a cool roof, a roof with solar thermal collectors or photovoltaic panels. Green roofs are also referred to as eco-roofs, oikosteges, vegetated roofs, living roofs, greenroofs and VCPH (Horizontal Vegetated Complex Partitions)
Definition from ChatGPT:
Green roof:
A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Green roofs provide numerous environmental benefits, such as reducing stormwater runoff, improving air quality, and reducing the urban heat island effect. They can also help insulate buildings, reduce energy costs, and create habitat for wildlife.