Green roofs, which is to say roofs covered in part or completely by vegetation in a growing medium, are extremely cool. Not only do they look fantastic and reduce energy bills, but they also offer valuable habitat for migrating and resident birds. So why don’t we have more? After watching this short video about green roofs in NYC, I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more urban roofspace converted to greenspace. Does anyone know why this isn’t already happening on a massive scale?
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
Green Infrastructure is taking hold in many parts of the country and is starting to be implemented on a large scale. The federal stimulus funds for water infrastructure of 2008 included a set aside for green and energy efficiency projects. New York State has continued that with their Green Infrastructure Grants Program. U.S. EPA has extensive information about GI at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/index.cfm
The LDS conference center in Salt Lake City has a pretty cool landscaped roof and was featured a few years ago in Landscape Architecture magazine. The tour guides report that California Quail nest on the roof each year and the mix of wild flowers, grasses, and trees is inviting a large number of species for both food and shelter. I’d love to see more of this type of landscape feature on buildings everywhere.
I found this video of green roofs in NYC in New York and my first thought was “damn they must have a lot of birds stopping by.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN5LkzDBQeg&feature=player_embedded
Hey Mike, I work at a company called Greensulate installing green roofs in NYC. Dustin Partridge has actually used many of our roofs to gather information about which birds come through. Just the other day we found a baby bird out of its nest of one of our roofs.
One reason there are not more of these roofs in the city is that they are very expensive to install. Although it will eventually cut down on heating and cooling costs, the initial price of greening a roof can be prohibitive. As the technology advances though it’s becoming more affordable.