Semester Goals for Spring 2012: What are green roofs, and what are their advantages?
A green roof is a special type of roof that has plants instead of traditional coverings such as concrete slabs or shingles. There are v
arious types of green roofs, including intensive (soil depth greater than 6 inches) and extensive (soil depth less than 6 inches). Green roofs provide all kinds of advantages, such as:
Through a combination of specially engineered soil and water management systems, green roofs can dramatically decrease the water run-off from a building, while providing insulation far superior to most traditional materials. Because of these numerous benefits, the Green Roof Committee wants to see Purdue’s buildings utilize them, and is working to make sure that happens. What has the Green Roof Committee done in the past?  The Schleman Hall green roof was installed by BGI members in May of 2009. This roof was the center piece for BGI when the club was just beginning. The three main goals for the roof were:
Before the actual installation, however, the roof needed to be physically prepared for going green. That preparation included covering the roof with a 100% water-proof membrane, extending the safety rails on the roof, and adding handicapped accessible ramps from the hallway of the Schleman building to the roof. The surface of the roof is a combination of highly reflective pavers and sedum plant mixtures. The pavers were placed on the roof to optimize the amount of green space while maintaining a completely usable area. The sedum p  lants, a close relative to the cactus, are highly adaptable perennials – capable of surviving long droughts in the summer and even the harsh winters of Indiana. In addition, they are planted in an “engineered” soil – so there is no need to water, or even fertilize them each year. The plants were placed in 1 X 2 ft modules that are easy to remove for maintenance and lock and grow together for a uniform look.Because the effects of green roofs are highly variable by geographic location, BGI monitors the Schleman Hall green roof. Powered completely by solar energy, a data logger automatically records the temperature, soil moisture, rainfall, and runoff in various locations on the roof. This data is continuously uploaded in real-time to a static IP address. If you are curious about the results from this data or wonder how the roof is doing right now, click the link below or email Andrew at marti330@purdue.edu. You can also visit the Schleman Hall green roof! It is on the second floor, across from the Business Office for Student Organizations (BOSO), where there are signs posted for a self-guided tour of the roof. Schleman Hall Green Roof Data Webpage: http://128.46.174.145 . What are the Green Roof Committee's current plans?  The Green Roof Committee is under way with planning for a second green roof to be installed in the spring of next year. Our current goals for this second roof are to demonstrate higher efficiency by dedicating more roof space to plants, investigating the use of larger plants, and the use of other monitoring systems. Many buildings on campus are due for roof maintenance, but, after a selection process where we considered the pros and cons of individual roofs, Know Hall of Technology was selected as our next location. Knoy Hall is the School of Technology’s main building. The portion of Knoy that we will install a green roof on are the tiered terraces pictured here. Each of these portions of the roof are flat, can be viewed from classrooms, offices, or laboratories, and are easily accessible through service doors on each level. This building is on the corner of Grant and Northwestern, which is located directly in the middle of the Purdue’s CSO problem area identified by Physical Facilities. |