Earth Equity News

Green Roofs Are Changing the Way Architects Design Buildings. By Lloyd Alter, Inhabitat.com, October 7, 2009. "Green roofs are wonderful things; like a thick blanket, they keep roofs cool in summer and warm in winter. They have been around for centuries in Scandinavia and Iceland, where they moderate the cold winters and sometimes very hot summers. They reduce the 'heat island' effect, where the air above and around the old black roofs gets hotter, making them hot properties in cities. Some, like Toronto have made them mandatory; other cities like Chicago give financial assistance to promote them. They provide habitat for birds and insects, even goats. Until recently, green roofs used to just lie there and do their thing… Now we are beginning to see green roofs being used as greenwashing, as a method to put buildings where they shouldn't be, or sell them to communities that don't want them… At some point a few of these are going to get built, and people are going to realize that green roofs are being used as the new equivalent of mirrored glass; Architects used to show renderings of towers reflecting birds and clouds to somehow make it disappear and be more palatable to residents and planning officials. In the end, people got a big box covered in mirrors. We should be careful that we don't get sold a whole lot of big boxes with green boxtops, always shown from above. When you are at street level it will be a very different picture."