Many cities are implementing interesting green roof initiatives with the aim of mitigating the “Urban Heat Island” effect, in which cities are significantly warmer than surrounding areas. Green roofs provide various environmental benefits including decreasing water run-off from roofs, helping with stormwater management, lessening the need for air conditioning, air quality control, and promoting biodiversity within the urban environment. Green roofs can also have long-term economic benefits given that they reduce energy consumption by providing insulation and have also been found to protect the roof membranes and last longer than conventional roofs.
There are two main categories of green roofs. The intensive variety consists of about a foot of earth material, allowing for the growth of trees and shrubs, but involves a significant addition of weight to the building and higher maintenance costs. Intensive green roofs are designed for human enjoyment, acting essentially as aboveground parks. The below Austin City Hall roof designed by American Hydrotech is an example of this type of green roof.
Last week, here in Sustentator, we summarized what the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act is doing to improve energy efficiency on a national scale. Today, we’ll look at the funds being destined to renewable energy research, development and deployment programs.
1) Community Renewable Energy Deployment
This project will on the whole receive $20.5 million. It includes five projects that will work to deploy renewable energy in different communities. To allow this, clean energy infrastructures will be developed, which will in turn create jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save consumers money. Among them is the project of the city of Montpelier, Vermont, where a cogeneration plant will be installed, and the University of California at Davis, that will develop a system to convert waste to energy.
2) Biomass
Through two main projects; Advanced biofuels research and fueling infrastructure and advanced biorefinery, the aim is to enhance the development of a clean and sustainable transportation sector. Among other things, selected projects will research algae-based and advanced biofuels. In so doing, dependence on foreign oil will decrease, while job creation will increase. Another important task which will be addressed is the development of compatible infrastructure. Further, biorefinery projects are expected to help foster a national biomass industry. The are of biomass energy will receive $644 million.
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We have shared with you just a few months, in which we have tried to inform you as best as possible on environmental issues. We are thrilled to welcome 2010, in which we hope to improve our blog and help you be as informed as possible. We certainly hope we’ll help you lead a greener life.
This year has brought us much joy, and excellent news, but also some challenges and disappointments such as Copenhagen. Let’s hope 2010 will bring along a broadening of conscience for all of us, and new and innovative ways for increasing sustainability, and helping us take care of our only home; the World.
Hoping you have a great 2010, all the best, and cheers!
We can’t complain about lack of space for growing plants, since we’ve seen here on Sustentator that they can be grown on living, or green, roofs and in hydroponic systems for the home. Now we’ll present green murals, which are also called living walls.
A living mural is a wall, even just one, which is part of a building or functions as a median and which is completely or partially covered with vegetation in the same way that living roofs are. This could include the façade of a house or building, or sometimes an interior wall. That’s why these walls are sometimes called vertical gardens.
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On November 17-18 The Economist hosted a networking and informative conference in Washington DC entitled: ‘The Carbon Economy: New Opportunities for Green Business’. There was a diverse panel of speakers from business (both current leaders and entrepreneurs presenting their start-ups), academia and the government. I was among the equally varied participants as a member of the press for ‘Sustentator’.
The panel did come to some negative conclusions but the overall mood was very positive. Shilpa Patel, representing the International Finance Corp (a member of the World Bank group), said that ‘policy coherence is the single biggest factor holding progress back’. She mentioned, for example, that $300 billion is given in subsidies for the use of fossil fuels in the top 20 countries world-wide. She argued, however, that the World Bank was particularly well placed to help engender policy coherence.
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