Eco-Structure Magazine Touts Benefits of Green Roofing and WESTON’s GreenGrid® System
The May/June 2006 issue of
Eco-Structure magazine featured green rooftops,
including WESTON’s GreenGrid® modular
green roof system, which are sprouting up on
urban structures, including the Apple corporate building in Chicago. According to
Eco-Structure magazine, there are
two types of green roofs that building owners
can choose from, based on their ecological
and financial needs. Intensive green roofs
are designed as rooftop gardens, and as such
are heavy systems that require substantial
structural capacity and regular maintenance.
Extensive systems, which are much lighter and
require little or no maintenance, are installed
for the economic and ecological benefits that
green roofs provide.
Once a building owner or
designer chooses between an intensive or extensive
roof, he or she must decide whether to install
a European style or modular green roof system – like
GreenGrid®.
While European style roof systems are made
of multiple layers of materials, the newer
modular GreenGrid® systems
are pre-planted trays that are shipped fully
assembled and ready to install. The main
benefit of a modular roof system is that
they allow easy access to the underlying
roof for maintenance and repairs.
Green roofs of every shape
and style have abundant benefits for corporations,
individuals, and the environment. Building
owners save a lot of green by greening their
rooftops: green roofs retain up to 90 percent
of stormwater runoff, reducing stormwater management costs. Since a green roof
serves as a thermal barrier, energy costs related to cooling and heating a
building are also reduced. A study conducted
by WESTON found that greening 50 percent of
Chicago roofs would save $100 million, or 720
megawatts in energy, annually. Green roofs
also improve air quality, increase roof longevity,
and improve indoor sound quality by reducing
external noise penetration. Economic and environmental
benefits aside, the pleasing aesthetics of a rooftop garden make green roofs
the preferable choice.
For more information on WESTON's GreenGrid® modular
system, visit our projects page. |
