Carbon Management
As well as absorbing CO2 directly during the day, a 1,000m2 green roof will start to offset nearly 5 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, every year, from the day it's installed. This is because of its insulating effect which saves carbon emissions indirectly by reducing the need for heating and air conditioning.
Green roofs have been with us for centuries ranging from the hanging gardens of Babylon to the turf roofed dwellings of Ireland and Scandinavia. However, modern green roofs have largely developed in the last 50 years, with increasing sophistication to meet a growing range of needs.
The modern green roof systems are highly durable and provide a number of key sustainable and environmental benefits.
Within the UK the growth of self-build and ecological construction processes from the late 1960s saw an increasing interest in green roofs over the following decades, although this was never fully exploited by either the industry or policy-makers.
This decade has seen a significant renewed interest in green roofs and a marked increase in green roofs being designed and installed. Many of these are part of urban regeneration schemes, but whether you're considering a roof for the garden shed or a large commercial block in the heart of a city, the opportunities are almost endless.
Green roofs are vegetated layers that sit on top of the conventional roof surfaces of a building. Usually a distinction is made between 'extensive' and 'intensive'. These terms refer to the degree of maintenance the roofs require.
Because of their very wide range of environmental and economic benefits (in particular their insulation and cooling properties, ability to significantly reduce rainwater runoff from roofs, and their value in promoting biodiversity and habitat in built-up areas), green roofs have come to be important elements of sustainable and green construction in many countries. Moreover, because they can be highly visible, they also clearly outwardly signal an intent for sustainable building and can give a very positive and distinctive image to a building or development.
