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Green Roofs
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Next generation of buildings have already begun to appear and, though they are well anchored in the ground as their predecessors, they are more similar to the nature that surrounds them. This is because of the growing concern for environment and global warming, concern that changed in just a few years the priorities of the whole world, the attributes of today’s ideal home being centered around the economy of energy and other “green” characteristics.
Globally, there can be noticed a growing interest for using live plants in the construction of modern urban buildings. Why? This is due to excessive heating of the areas where concrete and glass predominate and massive pollution of large urban agglomerations. In addition, green roofs keep a lower temperature in the buildings during the summer and the adoption of this measure to a large scale would help to isolate heat, reducing temperature throughout the city (it is shown that rural areas are up to 12 degrees cooler than cities in the summer).
The green roof is a solution that has two great qualities: it enlarges the "green" area available and, at the same time, absorbs the radiation and humidity from the air, protects the roof structure and helps cooling the building. Finally, all these mean savings when it comes to the cooling of the house/building.
By definition, green roofs are green spaces arranged in artificial structures, but more complicated than a simple garden located on the roof. Usually, cultivated plants require minimal care and attention, in a multilayered system that becomes, in fact, a continuation of the roof.
Benefits of the green roof are numerous, the most important being, in large urban areas, the land gained by creating gardens on the buildings. Besides the additional oxygen and stabilization of the atmosphere’s humidity, suspended gardens have an important role in reducing the greenhouse effect and prolonging the life of the roof. Temperature variations from the roof are much lower, so that the life of the roof is prolonged considerably.
The system includes a special membrane that prevents the plants’ roots penetration through the roof, a drainage system and an environment of growing more facile than the land that plants are usually planted in (consisting of gravel, sawdust and tree bark). Although at first glance it seem very complicated to be done, green roofs have a life twice longer than a classic roof and involve low maintenance costs.
Green roofs would stop much of that water which drains into sewers. And even the water that leaked due to the filtration of the plant roots would be of “good quality”, which reduces costs related to its filtration treatment stations. Millions of tones of rain water will lead back into the atmosphere by evaporation. Due to the resumption of the natural cycle, the temperature in urban areas would fall (it is 12 degrees Celsius higher than in rural areas). In addition to the benefits listed, in this way the huge energy consumption during the summer (due to the use of air condition devices) would decrease.
Houses covered with grass will be an excellent place to rest for those who live in them, but will also be a filter for polluted air and will be true habitat for birds living in cities. Studies made by experts show that the roofs of vegetation not only help the environment, but also cools the cities. They found that the temperature of these houses does not increase above 26 degrees Celsius in summer and never falls below four degrees Celsius when it is winter. This kind of Roofs has facilities such as drainage water, like the grass on large stadiums.
Green roofs have become a very popular practice in Europe, especially in Germany and Switzerland; there are already laws that regulate the green roofs.
In conclusion, this system of arranging and development of green spaces could be adopted by any city where the advantages mentioned above would be more than beneficial. Summarizing, suspended gardens contribute to lower pollution and create green oases in the middle of urban centers, improve thermal insulation of buildings and terraces and, last but not least, present long term economic benefits.
Also, understanding the interdependence between vegetation and soil is one of the ten major questions of our century for planetary sciences.
Green roofs combat the greenhouse effect in the urban area. Buildings with traditional roofing attract solar radiation and resubmit it under the form of heat, making cities’ temperature 12 degrees Celsius higher than in the surrounding areas. In the hot days of summer, the roof temperature can reach up to 80 degrees Celsius. In case of the green roof, the temperature does not exceed 25 degrees Celsius.
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