Green roofs are becoming increasingly popular in US cities with major initiatives in Chicago, Portland and Washington.According to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities roughly 10 million square feet of green roofs were built in 2009, compared to a million in 2004.
Toronto, Canada has become the first city in the Western Hemisphere to mandate green roofs. New buildings with a total floor area of more than 21,527 square feet will, depending on their size, have to cover from 20 to 60 percent of their roofs with vegetation. A 2005 study calculated that if 75 percent of the flat roofs in the city were greened,Toronto could reap $37 million a year in savings on strom water management, energy bills and costs related to urban heat island effects.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/green_roofs_are_starting_to_sprout_in_american_cities__/2346/
This post was written by:
Debbie - who has written 872 posts on My Climate Change Garden.
I am not an experienced gardener - more of an enthusiastic amateur who learns by trial and error and who is keen to "manage" the effects of shifting weather patterns on my garden.
Writing this blog is my passion and it has evolved over 12 years to inspire engagement with climate change outside our back doors, in our personal gardens and green spaces.
My mission is to fertilise and expand this platform to grow a community of global gardeners communicating about the effects of climate change on our plants and exploring how each individual can make small changes in our lives to become more sustainable.
The future of our gardens and #OurPlanet is in our hands - please plant your own seeds for our collective sustainable future.
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Thu, Dec 2, 2010
Climate Change, American Climate Change, Canadian Climate Change, Roof Gardens