Why Green Roofs?

Environmental Benefits

• Green roofs make a positive impact on their surroundings. They provide storm water retention and runoff control by absorbing up to 90 percent of rainwater that would otherwise be washed into sewer drains. Planted roofs use rainwater for the plants and absorptive growing media by holding the water and transpiring it back into the atmosphere through plant growing processes. Green roof rainwater retention can reduce flooding, reduce the volume of sediment transport and erosion from runoff, and absorb rainwater pollutants, protecting local water supplies. Green roofs also absorb air pollution, provide habitats for bees, butterflies and birds, and make the building's heating and cooling systems more efficient. They are one aspect of green building systems used to create ecologically sound architecture, along with eco-building practices such as installation of solar panels, wind turbines and gray water systems.

Economic Advantages

• Green roof technologies provide long-term maintenance and energy savings and efficiencies. They regulate temperatures of and insulate the buildings that support them. Green roofs generate savings for the communities they are in through runoff reduction that keeps excess water out of storm sewers and by reducing water and air pollution. They create useful, pleasing areas out of traditionally unused or under-utilized spaces atop buildings.

Aesthetic Advantages

• Green roofs provide aesthetic advantages not available from traditional roofing materials. They provide acoustic insulation and noise reduction, filtering out sounds of traffic, overhead air traffic or nearby train activity. They offer a wide variety of design possibilities and blend into the surrounding environment. Green roofs offer a softer, more attractive alternative to industrial facilities, and are visually, emotionally and economically appealing alternative design and building systems.

Psychological Advantages

• According to greenroofs.com, humans have positive psychological reactions to natural beauty, including that provided by green roofs. Green roofs offer a visual landscape that is less harsh and more calming and appealing than concrete, steel and asphalt. Overall quality of life is improved with green roofscapes and green roof gardens. Green roofs create a continuity between urban buildings and urban landscapes, blending them physically as well as aesthetically into an organic environment.