Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) is the newest realigned organization of the US Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). Considered the largest and most progressive depot facility in the Department of Defense, TYAD performs worldwide depot level maintenance repair, overhaul and fabrication support for ground, airborne, navigational, and satellite communications-electronics equipment and missile systems. Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Department of Defense’s primary facility for repair, overhaul, maintenance, integration, fabrication, upgrade, and total life-cycle support of Communications-Electronics equipment and systems. TYAD is the largest, full-service communications and electronics maintenance facility in the Department of Defense.?Who ever thought our roofer would turn out to be a botanist,? says Randy Didier, Environmental Management Division chief at Tobyhanna Army Depot, located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. But that?s exactly what happened when a Green roof was installed on one wing of the Depot?s headquarters. Didier, worked alongside Mike Parrent, the Depot?s pollution prevention program manager, searching for ways to make the Depot more energy efficient.One idea that kept floating to the top, quite literally, was to install a Green roof. But before submitting a Green roof proposal to the Army?s Joint Services, the two did extensive research on Green roof technology and the different Green roof systems available. They found that one system appeared to be the safest, quickest, and least labor-intensive to install: the GreenGrid? modular Green roof system from Weston Solutions, Inc. With this system, soil and vegetation are pre-planted in 100 percent recycled plastic modules. The modules are then laid out atop the existing roof with as much as 4,000 square feet installed in a day.

Once Parrent and Didier were given the green light, 14,000 square feet of Green roof was installed during the summer of 2006. This installation required 1,500 modules, each filled with sixteen hearty sedum perennials in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.The team is still gathering data and calculating how much energy the GreenGrid Green Roof system will save. In the mean time, Didier says, ?Our research suggests we can expect a 30 percent reduction in energy costs down the road. Anytime you can save the government money [by] cutting back on energy consumption, especially in this day and age, it’s a benefit to all parties involved.?