Green roofing solutions are a very simple yet very effective way in which an individual can play a formidable role in the saving of the environment. It is a new innovation that while providing durable and quality shelter; it also impacts the environment positively in a plethora of ways. In the final analysis it is a better option compared to the normal roofing in many ways as will be illustrated below.
Air quality
Planting of a large number of trees and other plants in cities has been known to improve the air quality in such places where air pollution is rampant and the sources are innumerable. This is purely based on the fact that plants use up the carbon dioxide (the main cause of ozone degradation and thus global warming) while giving off oxygen. These green roofing solutions offer a better way of increasing the plant cover over the cities even in as the so called concrete jungle develops and expand. Individual roofs produce negligible effects but green roofs in specific large areas of the city or in Air Quality Management zones would definitely have noticeable impact on the environment.
Saving energy
The green roofs produce a moderate amount of insulation thus implying that the cost of air conditioning can be cut down significantly. Paradise Park in the London Borough of Islington is the best example of this. The thermal mass of the green roof that it has was enough such that there is no air conditioning that has been installed. This has ended up saving around 3,800kW/hrs and also reducing the CO2 emission by over 1.6 tonnes.
Adapting to climate change
An excerpt from the London’s Warming: The Impacts of Climate Change forecasts drastic climate change:Summers by 2050 will be 1.5 – 3.5oc hotter. In central London the urban heat island currently adds 5-6oc to summer night-time temperatures and will intensify in the future
Moreover, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change in the UK has discovered that for the country to combat climate change, an urban centre is required to increase the amount of vegetation cover by around10 per cent! This seems to be an impossible target to reach since there is evidently limited space on the ground for soil, let alone vegetation. Green roofing solutions are therefore the most suitable and logical option.
Health improvement
The contact and interaction between man and nature has proved to cause both mental and physical and mental healing. The aesthetic value of green roofing solutions serves to reduce stress and induce relaxation in human beings. The cleansed air also causes reduction of stress and improvement of health.
Biodiversity
Green roofing solutions provide a suitable habitat for a variety of wildlife, especially if in the design nest boxes, water features and logs, and native species of plants are included.
In a London and Basel research, the findings showed that a well-designed large-scale green roof does provide a vital and suitable refuge for invertebrates that are rear (commonly associated with Brownfield sites and other dry, properly drained sites with insufficient nutrient availability). Rare bird species (most common is the Black Redstart found in the London area.) have also been known to find a home in these well-designed green roofs.