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Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here’s the transcript from August 19, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!
– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for this week, August 19th, 2011 on GreenroofsTV.
– Our project of the week is the NBC Experience Store living wall built in 2010 in New York, NY. The beautiful and lush indoor living wall at Rockefeller Center was developed to be a part of NBC’s “Green is Universal” week 2010. A secondary green initiative included a temporary window display to help educate the public on green farming with vertical living walls and show the portability of the Green Living Technologies International Mobile Edible Wall Unit, used as a teaching tool in classrooms and as part of the GLTi Food Factory. The GLTi certified installers responsible for the project were the youngest certified installers in the world, part of the Discovery High School team of interns on the degree track program getting paid to implement the skills they had learned in class. The living wall units are part of the GLTi curriculum used in the NYC Schools and will be part of the new Hunts Point High School for Sustainable Community Initiatives in the Bronx, making the program the first of its kind providing a degree track with green technologies as the focal point. The unit is bell to bell instruction and can be used to grow everything from food to long-lived perennials.
– To learn more about the NBC Experience Store living wall, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage.
“What’s New“
– On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Bloomberg signed into law a bill to exempt rooftop greenhouses from being counted toward a buildings’ height and floor area measurements. The greenhouses will join structures like roof tanks, air-conditioning equipment and chimneys as apparatus that are not factored into buildings’ official totals, easing limitations on the construction of such structures. As for greenroofs, new legislation will allow 4 inch depth systems to be submitted to the Department of Buildings without the need for construction plans or permits.
– The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) under the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) department has recently updated the “New and Underutilized Technology: Green Roof” webpage to include information which outlines key development considerations for greenroofs within the federal sector.
– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts: “Boston GreenFest 2011 is Open!“ where you’ll find lots of fun and learning activities for the whole family, plus learn about greenroofs and walls with The Green Wall Editor, George Irwin of Green Living Technologies International, who will complete an 800 sf greenroof on site, “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: August 12th, 2011“ and our GPW.
– “Upcoming Events“
– Now through August 20th is Boston GreenFest 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts.
– August 21st-25th: is StormCon – The North American Surface Water Quality Conference in Anaheim, California.
– August 24th-26th: is the 6th Annual Georgia Environmental Conference in Savannah, Georgia.
– August 25th-27th: is the Farwest Show in Portland, Oregon.
– And August 26th: is a Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) – Advanced Green Roof Maintenance course in Toronto, Canada.
– Check out our homepage for more Upcoming Events!
– “In the News“
– Caitlin Moran of Patch.com says “”˜Rainwater Tour’ Gives Residents Ideas for Better Stormwater Management.” Earlier this week, about 15 residents of Redmond, Washington gathered at Grass Lawn Park for a “Rain Water Community Tour.” Hosted by the City of Redmond, Sustainable Redmond and People for Puget Sound, the walking tour highlighted some of the park’s modern stormwater management features, including a green roof, rain garden and permeable ground surfaces. The environmental features help filter out stormwater pollution before water hits local streams, rivers and the Puget Sound. Maddie Foutch, an intern at People for Puget Sound who helped coordinate the rainwater tour, says that stormwater is the cause of one-third of the pollution in Puget Sound. And Peter Holte, the City of Redmond’s stewardship coordinator said “rain gardens, green roofs and the added use of pervious surfaces also helps slow stormwater flow into the streams, which in turn mitigates stream bank erosion and flooding.”
– Patricia Culligan of LiveScience.com asks “How Does Your Rooftop Grow?” She says “green roofs, such as those on the Columbia University campus, are rapidly gaining popular attention in the United States, recently becoming a high-profile component of sustainable building construction.” To better understand the benefits of urban green roofs and how they work, a team of Columbia University researchers including Patricia Culligan, Stuart Gaffin and Wade McGillis, are coordinating extensive green roofs throughout New York City, in a partnership with the university’s Office of Environmental Stewardship and the Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab. The researchers are measuring roof runoff, plant evapo-transpiration, carbon dioxide flux, temperature of the growing medium, moisture gradients, local particle counts, and roof albedo for roofs across the city and the results will provide great information for people of the greenroof industry.
– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or newslinks section of our website.
– Have something you think we should know about and post on our website? You can send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com.
– Stay up-to-date with what’s going on at Greenroofs.com by subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube, following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook and being a member of our network on LinkedIn.
– This has been This Week in Review for August 19th, 2011 on GreenroofsTV. I’m Anjuli Velazquez and I’ll see you next week!
*This week’s episode is sponsored by The Greenroof Directory, brought to you by Greenroofs.com.*
Did we miss something? We’d love to hear from you!
~ Linda V.
