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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 is the transcript from August 31 and September 7, 2012 from our daughter,  Anjuli  – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for August 31st & September 7th, 2012 on  GreenroofsTV.

–  Projects of the Week

–  Our Project of the Week this week is the Origin Energy Greenwall Project, built in 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.  The Origin Energy head office at 321 Exhibition Street is a commercial complex consisting of premium office and retail space, aiming to be the best practice in sustainability and energy efficiency through the design and installation of a state of the art trigeneration plant.  The tallest greenwall in Australia was recently completed here by Mark Paul of The Greenwall Company.

Spanning 22 floors, each floor has its own unique planting make up, specifically designed to maximize varying angles and lighting.  Utilizing non-biodegradable inorganic media, their greenwalls are grown with epiphytic and lithophytic plants which provide some of the country’s endangered species with a home in order to preserve their existence.  And, the Greenwall Company builds its walls from 94% of recyclable materials.

–  Our Project of the Week  last week was the Central Park Praha, Phase 1, built in 2009, in Prague, Czech Republic.  Located near the historic Prague city center, Central Park Praha is a new multi-family residential complex by designers A96 Architects and AED Project.  Attractive exteriors and innovatively designed interiors are combined with environmental considerations and energy efficiency.  The layout of the apartment complex was inspired by the natural environment, transforming its sharp features into a park through an artificial green embankment, which is actually a terraced building with greenroofs and façades.

The greenroof connects the grounds of the park with the residential buildings and creates a seamless green transition.  The pitched roofs were realized using the Optigreen “slope roof system type T,” an anti-slip system for roof slopes up to 45 °, necessary to keep the substrate and pre-cultivated sedum mats in place.

–  To learn more about the Origin Energy Greenwall Project,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage  (or on the above photos); and to learn more about the Central Park Praha, Phase 1, search project ID #1392 in our Projects Database.

What’s New

–  The Greenroofs.com eNewsletter

– Our August,  2012 eNewsletter was released last week, so be sure to check it out! Catch up on what was new in August, what we’ve been blogging about in our latest Sky Gardens posts, Advertiser Press Releases and more!  Or, subscribe  now.

–  Welcome

– We’d like to welcome two new advertisers here at Greenroofs.com!  Basques Hardwood Charcoal is a manufacturer of a horticultural amendment for rooftop media.

– And Vector Mapping/IR Analyzers has been performing vector mapping integrity testing since 1984.

–  Guest Feature Article

– Make sure to read Steven Peck’s guest feature article, “10th Anniversary – CitiesAlive Returns to Chicago To Celebrate and Plan Ahead“ all about the upcoming event in October – register by September 15 to receive the Early Bird Discount!

–  Advertiser Press Release:

–  Optigreen International (AG) has developed a new Green Roof system: Retention Roof Meander 30.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts:  “The World Green Roof Congress, Copenhagen 2012 in 3 Weeks!” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: August 24, 2012.”

–  Industry News

– The NRCA is offering a new LEED Guide entitled “A Roofing Professional’s Guide to LEED ®” which includes specifics about vegetative roofing points.

– “Upcoming Events“

– Going on since September 1-30: is the 9th Annual Architecture and the City Festival in San Francisco, CA.

– September 6th-9th: is the 2012 Waterproofing Contractors Association (WCA) Fall Convention, in Myrtle Beach, SC.

– September 11th-14th: is the CONSTRUCT2012 and the CSI Annual Convention, in Phoenix, AZ – Follow on Twitter: @CONSTRUCTshow #CONSTRUCT

– September 12th: is the Greenroof Design & Construction Workshop, Wetland Studies & Solutions, in Gainesville, VA.

– September 13th-14th: is the European Conference on Sustainable Renovation of Buildings, in Karlsruhe, Germany.

–  And September 15-16 is the 10th Annual San Francisco Living Home Tours.

– “In the News“

–  James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal Blog, talks about “Louisville Housing Authority shows off new green roof.”  Louisville Metro Housing Authority’s Vine Street administration building features a new green roof with more than 1,200 plantings, including different grasses, ground coverings, serviceberry trees and various types of bushes; and it cost less than a traditional roof replacement.

It also has a walkway and benches for its building occupants to take a break and enjoy the lovely view it offers while it is helping to reduce the urban heat island effect.  This new sustainable addition will save on the building’s energy cost all year long, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

– The staff at Buffalo Rising says, “NFTA Bus Shelter Gets A Living Green Roof.” eco_logic STUDIO, the company behind this project, said that this bus shelter is “a demonstration project for NFTA utilizing an existing bus shelter.  In the last year NFTA has installed about 100 PV systems on bus shelters.  This is the first green roof!”

Just some of the benefits this green roof will help to do are to absorb pollution and put back clean air in the environment, help keep the inside of the shelter cool in the summer and help to improve rain retention.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our  In the News  or  Newslinks  section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to  editor@greenroofs.com  and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world! – Make sure to keep up with everything  Greenroofs.com  by following us on  Twitter, liking us on  Facebook, being a member of our network on  LinkedIn, and subscribing to our  greenroofsTV channel  on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for  August 31st & September 7th,  2012 on  GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from August 24, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for August 24th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  ABN AMRO Plaza, 6th Floor Podium, built in 2005 in Chicago, Illinois.  ABN AMRO Plaza is a 1.4 million square foot, 29-floor commercial office building located in the West Loop area of Chicago and is certified LEED-EB Gold.  The green roof on the 6th floor was primarily built for the use of the ABN AMRO employees.  It was designed to be an occupied green roof with 50% planted area and 50% paver area with plantings which are a mix of trees, perennial plants, and annual flowers in planters of mixed heights.  Former Mayor Daley’s objective was to make Chicago America’s greenest city, and this building has contributed towards making Chicago a cleaner, healthier, more energy-efficient environment for its citizens.

This project has won numerous awards including the IIDA Design Award, Crain’s Real Estate Development of the Year and Midwest Construction Commercial Project of the year.  And, it also won the 2007 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Awards of Excellence in the Intensive Industrial/Commercial category.  The “Greenroof-Roofscape ®” waterproofing assembly, supplied by Barrett Company, consists of 215 mils thick Barrett “Ram Tough 250″ rubberized asphalt membrane, polyester reinforcement, SBS protection course, 60 psi extruded polystyrene insulation, and a root barrier.

– To learn more about the ABN AMRO Plaza, 6th Floor Podium,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

What’s New

– Welcome to our new sponsor, Vegetal i.D.!  They are one of the largest nurseries dedicated to green roof and living wall solutions.

– And welcome back to our new advertiser, Capitol Greenroofs, a full service landscape architectural and contracting firm out of Virginia.

– Advertiser Press Release:

–    LiveWall ®, the Planted Wall System Designed in Harmony with Nature, Supports Diversity and Versatility in Green Wall Design.

– Industry News

–  EPA Invites Students to Compete in Campus RainWorks Challenge.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest post:  “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: August 17, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  September 1st-7th: is the World Urban Forum 6, in Naples, Italy.

– “In the News“

–  A Press Release from PR Newswire announces “Postal Service Saves Millions in Energy Costs.”  The U.S. Postal Service recently reported that it had reduced its total facility energy consumption by nearly 26% since 2003.  Robust energy measurement systems and practical steps, like the ones noted by the Go Green Forever Stamps, Adjust the Thermostat and Turn off Lights Not in Use, contributed to the reduction, which is about the same amount of energy used annually by 90,000 households.

The Postal Service’s first green roof opened in 2009 on top of the Morgan Mail Processing and Distribution Facility in New York, and is the city’s largest green roof.  The agency’s second green roof, on top of the Syracuse Colvin-Elmwood Post Office, was built at no cost to the Postal Service through the sustainability Save the Rain partnership with Onondaga County, New York.  Each roof has an expected lifespan of 50 years, they will help reduce the amount of stormwater runoff flowing into the city’s water systems, and are part of the U.S. Postal Service’s commitment to creating sustainable spaces and facilities.

– Matt Vande Bunte of MLIVE, talks about “How a stormwater fee could make Grand Rapids “˜sexy.'”  A new report to be reviewed by the Grand Rapids City Commission recommends increased funding, through a tax or user fee, for the public stormwater system.  It embraces the concept of giving properties a way to reduce the new cost by installing green infrastructure.  The added cost would be a monthly fee of about $2-$8, and this “rain tax” is becoming a hot topic in Michigan.

West Michigan Environmental Action Council’s executive director, Rachel Hood, says “It’s the (low-impact development) that makes stormwater sexy.  What is recommended in the report is an approach that provides for low-impact development incentives.”  Mayor George Heartwell said, “We’ve got to find a way to fund stormwater.  The issue is how do you fund stormwater.  I think creating a stormwater utility with an equitable assessment process is the fairest and best way to do it.”

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for August 24th,  2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from August 10, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for  on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  Auckland International Airport Novotel Hotel Green Wall built in 2011, in Auckland, New Zealand.  Their website describes the Square Restaurant & Bar, where the green wall is located, as bringing “together exquisite cuisine, fine design and impeccable service with an unmistakably New Zealand sense of hospitality.”  It is open 24 hours a day, and features “a stunning “˜living wall,’ [it is] the perfect place to relax with friends or colleagues.  Enjoy an extensive selection of New Zealand wines and beers, artfully mixed cocktails and gourmet snacks as you soak up the relaxing atmosphere.”

The green wall has an array of native New Zealand flora, including cascading ferns and pan-pacific creepers.  Completed last year, the two-story green wall was designed, built and installed by Natural Habitats, and is nurtured by a hydroponic system.  It improves the indoor air quality by removing air pollutants and raising humidity levels, and it provides visual interest and environmental benefits, creating a more comfortable and relaxing work environment.  The Auckland International Airport’s Novotel Hotel was awarded silver in the Spatial Design category at the 2011 Best Awards.

– To learn more about the Auckland International Airport Novotel Hotel Green Wall,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

What’s New

–  We’d like to welcome Optigreen International AG, our new advertiser!  They are one of the leading companies in the green roof industry out of Germany.  Look for one of their greenroofs featured as our Project of the Week coming very soon!

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  Skyland USA Has Added Another Product to the Growing Portfolio of rooflite ® Certified Green Roof Media Products: rooflite ® Intensive Ag.

– Industry News

–  American Rivers released their latest white paper, “Growing Green: How Green Infrastructure Can Improve Livability and Public Health.”  They explore how green infrastructure practices can mitigate the urban heat island effect and provide a number of other public health benefits.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest post:  “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: August 3, 2012.”

– Guest Bloggers

– And check out Dr. Nigel Dunnett’s guest blog post about the “London Olympic Park: Star of the Show,” along with Dr. Steven Cohan’s guest blog post about the upcoming “Green Roof Research Summit at the University of Maryland on August 16-17, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  August 14th-16th: is the Ag Progress Days, at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, in Rock Springs, Pennsylvania. #agprogress

–  Also August 14th-16th: is the Plantscape Industry Expo 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. @PIAgrows

–  August 15th-18th: is the Urban Agriculture Summit, in Toronto, Canada. @urbanagsummit

–  August 16th-17th: is the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Green Roof Science and Technology Symposium at the University of Maryland, in College Park, Maryland.

–  And August 16th-18th: is Boston GreenFest 2012, in Boston, Massachusetts. @BosGreenFest

– “In the News“

–  Novia D. Rulistia of the Jakarta Post, says “Vertical gardens take root and flourish in green zone.”  The Indonesia Greenwall office is one of several buildings and houses in Jakarta that utilizes green walls.  Decky Rinawan of Indonesia Greenwall says, “the building itself has become a showroom for what vertical gardening can achieve. It shows everyone who is interested in helping make the city greener what can be done with technology and imagination.”

Last year the building underwent a makeover so it could feature the hanging garden of Harmoni and now features 339 square meters of vertical gardening.

– Ryan Gilbert of the Hartford Courant, talks about “Science Center’s Garden In Full Bloom With Flora And Grasshoppers.”  The Connecticut Science Center opened its rooftop garden in May, and has become a popular attraction for both children and adults alike to enjoy native plants, views of downtown Hartford, the Connecticut River and the nearby countryside.

The 6,316-square-foot rooftop garden has several micro climates including a shade garden, an alpine garden and a children’s sensory garden.  Some of the foliage include: blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, canna lilies, prickly pear cactus, various herbs and milkweeds.  The Science Center is LEED-Gold certified and was recently certified as a monarch butterfly way-station. They are offering free admission to Hartford residents in the month of August.  Check out their website (ctsciencecenter.org) for more information on tickets.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for   August 10th, 2012  on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from July 27, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for July 27th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the Greensboro Transit Authority Maintenance Facility and Administrative Offices built in 2011, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Operating a fleet of 104 buses, the new $15.8 million, 65,000 square foot facility is expected to enhance GTA service delivery efficiency and quality of service to current and future riders in Greensboro.  This new transit building is reducing its carbon footprint with a greenroof, solar panels, and “by utilizing natural daylight, automated lighting controls, enhanced energy efficiencies and thermal envelope, highly recyclable and rapidly renewable resources, and local materials encompassed with a 40-year building commitment to the facility.”  It is also seeking LEED Gold certification.

The Greensboro Transit Authority Maintenance Operations Facility and Administrative Offices is the first greenroof on a Greensboro city building, and the living roof was installed on October 29, 2011.  LiveRoof ® 4″ deep Standard Modules were used over a GAF EverGuard 60 mil TPO roof membrane and slip sheet. Multiple plant mixes of Sedums and other succulents make up most of the vegetative lower roof with solar panels for hot water on the higher roof.

– To learn more about the Greensboro Transit Authority Maintenance Facility and Administrative Offices,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

What’s New

– Advertiser Press Release:

– LiveRoof ® Green Roof Brings Natural Beauty to the Rooftop of Bearden Hill Office Building in Knoxville, TN.

– Industry News

–  EPA provides $950,000 to improve water quality using green infrastructure in 17 communities in 16 states.

– The EPA has launched a new design competition called the Campus RainWorks Challenge to encourage student teams on college and university campuses across the country to develop innovative approaches to stormwater management.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest post:  “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: July 20, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  August 1st: is GO GREEN SOUTH CAROLINA – “Bringing Sustainable Buildings to the Forefront Makes Cent$,” in Columbia, SC.

– “In the News“

–  Samantha Jeffreys of WREX.com reports on “Nicholas Conservatory installing green roof garden.”  The Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, in the Rockford Park District, is getting a new look with a 4,300-square-foot-green roof garden.  Greenroofs offer many benefits like reducing stormwater runoff, reducing the building’s energy use, and extending the life of the roof.

The LiveRoof ® Hybrid Green Roof System was chosen for the project because according to Park District landscape architect Jason Ney, the system establishes a “naturally functioning, living system with a continuous surface of soil.”  The roof is expected to be done by August and includes modules with plants in several native species that will attract butterflies, hummingbirds and other insects and birds beneficial to the roof and our environment.

–  Carol James of the Natural Resources Defense Council Blog, asks “So, what’s a green roof got to do with it?”  And she answers “well, lots, if you care about the environment.”  Like I just mentioned, greenroofs offer many benefits such as reducing stormwater and extending the roof’s life but they also improve the air quality by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, insulating buildings, which reduces heating and cooling costs and they also add a beautiful view.

Wouldn’t you rather look at your window and see visually pleasing plants and flowers instead of black or gray concrete?  Carol James would and does working at her Washington, DC office and says she feel grateful for it.  Her office’s greenroof is an extension of the terrace on the third floor, allowing her to have a perfect view of the lush greenery.  She is seeing first hand how much the roof absorbs the rainwater during thunderstorms, preventing the runoff from going untreated into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.  This is only one roof on one building and if more buildings across DC – and across big cities in our country – would green their roofs, the benefits would be exponential.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for July 27th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from July 20, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for July 20th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  Nashville Music City Center built in 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee.  This Center is a 1.2 million square foot convention center just finished last month in the South of Broadway district in Nashville.  The finished roof has three independent greenroof sections on its wavy roof; and also features a 360,000 gallon water reclaim tank, which is used for things like flushing the toilets and site irrigation.  With the design of the grand ballroom portion of the roof, the Music Center Team envisioned installing solar panels.

The Center is working to achieve LEED Silver status, and a prominent feature of this will be the 175,000 square-foot greenroof, designed to flow along with the rolling hills of Tennessee.  Rooflite ® provided the growing media, Sempergreen the pre-vegetated mats, Sika Sarnafil the waterproofing membrane and the greenroof was designed by Roofmeadow.

What’s New

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  Introducing LiveScreen ®, the Mobile Version of LiveWall ®, the Planted Wall System Designed in Harmony with Nature.

–  Contributing Editor

– Read the latest article from our contributing editor Ralph Velasquez, “Sustainability, Friend or Foe?“

– Industry News

–  ASTM Sustainability Committee develops standard for use of expanded shale, clay and slate in vegetated roofing systems.

–  NASA has released a fact sheet detailing efforts to research, use, and improve upon the concept of greenroofs.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest post:  “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: July 13, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  July 27th: is the RCI Region II Meeting, in Charleston, SC.

– “In the News“

–  The Materials Handling World Magazine talks about “Leading supplier of single ply roof membranes, Sika-Trocal Helps Reduce “˜Carbon Pawprint.'”  Sika-Trocal has helped to keep stray and abandoned dogs sheltered at the Dogs Trust Rehoming Centres in Shrewsbury and Loughborough (UK).  Sika-Trocal’s single ply roof membranes have been used on these buildings to create beautifully stunning greenroofs.  Specialist roofing contractor Telclad was assigned to complete the roof installations, and developed a series of retention battens that would be strong enough to restrain the curved greenroof from slippage while meeting Sika-Trocal’s installation standards.

Delivered by main contractor McPhillips and designed by architects Peter Napier & Co., the facilities were built as environmentally sustainable as possible to help reduce the Dogs Trust’s carbon “pawprint.”  The design incorporated materials with low environmental impact including rainwater harvesting, solar panels and a greenroof, helping the building to become the first of its kind to achieve the highest BREEAM Outstanding rating in the world.

–  Business Green says, “Scientists: Green walls lead to cleaner cities.”  “Lining cities with wall[s] of vegetation could reduce air pollution by 30 per cent at less cost than current policies.”  According to a new research published in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology, plants can clean the air of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, which cause a huge portion of the 35,000 to 50,000 of premature deaths in the UK that are attributed to outdoor air pollution each year. The World Health Organization’s outdoor air quality database puts the figure of air quality related premature deaths at more than one million a year worldwide.

Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Lancaster say pollution struggles to escape “street canyons,” which makes planting green walls of grass, climbing ivy and other plants way more effective at filtering out pollutants than previously thought. Transport for London has installed green walls at Edgware Road station and at The Mermaid in Blackfriars, as part of a package of targeted short term measures introduced where particulate levels are at their highest.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for July 20th, 2012  on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here is the transcript from June 29,  2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for June 29th,  2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  Banyan Street Manor Rooftop Farm & Vertical Gardens built in 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Located in the Kalihi section of Honolulu, Banyan Street Manor debuted the first USDA Certified Organic rooftop farm on top of an affordable housing project along with three vertical gardens.  A variety of Asian herbs and more than 20 types of produce including tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, and green beans will be grown on the roof.  40% of the produce will be grown free of charge to building residence and the remaining produce will be sold to Whole Foods Market and other local grocery stores.

Distributors of  Green Living Technologies International, 1st Look Exteriors, will manage and maintain the 790 sf of Green Living Walls and the 2,000 square foot roof top organic garden.  A cooling feature of Banyan Street Manor is a white roof, and photovoltaic panels generate electricity to power the common areas and offset overall operating costs.  It will also feature the largest living wall in the state.

What’s New

– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video

– Watch our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 29: “Closing Keynote Address – Gardens By the Bay, Singapore” by Andrew Grant.

And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.

–  Guest Feature Article

– Read our Guest Feature Article, “Copenhagen, the Green City for the Third World Green Roof Congress,” by Dusty Gedge.

–  The Greenroofs.com eNewsletter

– Our June 2012 eNewsletter is out!  Check your inboxes for what’s been going on here all month long and if you’re not subscribed, click on the mail icon on our homepage and enter your e-mail address!  (Or  Subscribe  now.)

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  “˜Living Wall’ Is Part of Fashion Valley Makeover Plans installed by GreenScaped Buildings.

– Industry News

–  EPA has released a series of six fact sheets on incorporating green infrastructure measures into National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wet weather programs.  The series builds upon existing EPA authority, guidance, and agreements to describe how EPA and state permitting and enforcement professionals can work with permittees to include green infrastructure measures as part of control programs.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts:  “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 29: Closing Keynote Address – Gardens by the Bay, Singapore” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: June 22, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  June 30th: is the Early Bird Registration deadline for the World Green Roof Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 –  July 6th-8th: is the 2012 Perennial Plant Symposium, in Boston, MA.

– “In the News“

–  Melissa Harris, of the Chicago Tribune reports on “Living green wall planned for InterContinental Chicago.”  The chief executive of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Laurence Geller, plans to add life to the InterContinental Chicago hotel on North Michigan Avenue with a 9,800-square-foot green wall.  If approved by the City Council, this will be the largest wall of its kind in North America.  Chicago is known for its greenroofs but has few green walls, experts say, due to the cost and climate.

The new Rivers Casino in Des Plaines has a small indoor one, and the Chicago Botanic Garden’s new children’s garden has four outdoor walls that cover about a total of 670 square feet.  The team is working with Green Living Technologies International, which has great experience and built the walls at the botanic garden. The plants will be grown indoors and slowly, over several months, be rotated to a 90-degree angle before being planted on the wall.

–  Kevin Ma of the St. Albert Gazette, talks about “Garden experiment takes over Enjoy Centre roof.”  He says, “rooftop gardens bring efficiency and exotic tomatoes,” and that “city residents could get to eat Boxcar Willie in about a month if all goes well at an experimental rooftop garden at the Hole’s greenhouse.”  Volunteers gathered to help plant four rooftop gardens at the Enjoy Centre last week.  The gardens are part of an experiment by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) to test the effects of plants on Alberta roofs.  The test modules on the four roofs contain custom-made dirt, that has specific nutrient and water-retention levels, sensors and plants.

The team will track heat, moisture, photosynthesis and carbon storage rates in the modules over the next five years.  They are also conducting an experiment with 61 tomato plants on the roof to see if they can grow local food.  These are black, purple, and striped tomatoes with names like Boxcar Willie and Amish Paste.  The team is growing 28 varieties, about 80% of which are heritage tomatoes; and if all goes well, the vegetables should be ready for the Prairie Bistro restaurant downstairs by August.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for June 29th,  2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from June 22, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for June 22nd, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, built in 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.  The former site of Atlanta’s most popular retailer throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, the iconic Rich’s Department Store, the present Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center serves as the home of several federal agencies and is one of the city’s most environmentally friendly facilities.  The high-rise building of the Center houses a forested courtyard with a stand of approximately 50 maple trees, flowering cherry trees, and various other deciduous species, as well as native drought-resistant vegetation and paths of semi-pervious concrete pavers.

Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the $2.6 million project renovation’s goals, consistent with the General Services Administration’s roofing program, were to provide thermal and moisture protection; conserve energy and the environment; reduce utility costs; and help attain energy security by meeting Energy Independence and Security Act requirements.  In 2011 the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center received the inaugural RoofPoint™ Award from the Center of Environmental Innovation in Roofing for “Excellence in Life Cycle Management,” distinguished by its efficient re-use of original roofing materials, and it has received other awards, too.

The two vegetated roofs are beautiful highlights of the buildings, with more than 198,000 colorful sedums, delospermas, native cacti, alliums and more from Saul Nurseries.  They were planted 3 plugs per square foot and are set in 4 inches of growing media from ItSaul Natural in a planting plan designed by Tremco Roofing’s Mary Ann Uhlmann.

– To learn more about the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

What’s New

– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video

– Watch our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011  Episode #28:  “The Green Bronx Machine”  by Steve Ritz.

And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.

– Industry News

– A three-bill package sponsored by New Jersey Assembly Democrats Ruben Ramos, Jr., John McKeon, Wayne DeAngelo, and Connie Wagner, which is designed to encourage the proliferation of environmentally-friendly buildings, has been approved.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts:  “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 28: The Green Bronx Machine,” “Greenroofed Sam Nunn Federal Center Dedicated in Atlanta!,” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: June 15, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

– June 24th-27th: is the Western Roofing Expo 2012 in Las Vegas, NV.

– “In the News“

–  Charles A. Birnbaum of the Huffington Post talks about “The Real High Line Effect — A Transformational Triumph of Preservation and Design.”  New York’s High Line, the stretch of abandoned elevated railroad on New York’s West Side that has been transformed into a public park and one of the city’s most popular destinations, has generated a lot of buzz about the so-called “High Line effect.”  Several cities are looking at their own forgotten areas, trying to figure out how they too can transform them into environmentally-friendly spaces.  The High Line was made possible by a team of landscape architects, architects, horticulturalists, engineers and others, led by James Corner Field Operations, and they were able to keep historic preservation and design.

By the way, the High Line isn’t the only successful “adaptive reuse” approach that works; San Francisco’s Crissy Field was an asphalt airfield and now is a “must-go-to destination that connects San Franciscans with their industrial waterfront heritage while restoring and conserving its natural and ecological values.”

Other projects include the 36-acre Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Tampa’s NationsBank Plaza, designed in the 1980s by Dan Kiley and now known as Kiley Garden, and Philip Johnson’s Water Garden in Fort Worth, Texas.  Landscape architect Laurie Olin suggests that when thinking about changes to an urban landscape that has a history, the conversation should address what stays and what goes and the virtues of bringing something new or an addition to an existing site.

–  Rachel Nuwer of ecomagination.com says, “Eating on a Green Roof: New York’s Buildings Provide Food, Habitat for Wildlife.”  She says, “New York’s green roofs do more than add a splash of green to the urban habitat.  They also provide a crucial stopping ground and habitat for birds flying through.

Researcher Dustin Partridge tracks the insect life on roofs throughout New York to see if the roofs are providing food sources for the birds.”  The author visited Partridge on one of his roofs and put together a great video on the full article about the studies he’s conducting on New York’s green roofs.  He talks about the visiting birds and what wildlife benefits green roofs provide and compares the data he received with traditional black roofs.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for June 22nd,  2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from June 15, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for June 15th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the  Vicenza (San Bortolo) Hospital, built in 2008 in Vicenza, Italy.  This hospital is part of the “Corporate Health Authority 6 Vicenza,” and is the main hospital of the city of Vicenza, Italy.  The greenroof project area is about 2,500 square meters on a flat roof above the interior of the public facility. Architect Enrico Dall’Osto worked to design the greenroof so that it could contribute to the healing process of the hospital’s patients, while offering a nice and beautiful green space.

The intensive greenroof area plants include Hypericum “Hidcote,“ Rosa austrariana, Spirea bumalda, and Berberis “Rose Glow;“ the extensive areas are planted with various types of sedums.  The system substrate is German, made from Flordepot, and imported in Italy from ClimaGruen.  

– To learn more about the Vicenza (San Bortolo) Hospital,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

What’s New

– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video

– Watch our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011  Episode 27: “One Decade of Ultralight Green Roof Proof-of-Concept on Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant,” by Dr. Clayton Rugh.

And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  Urban Agriculture Takes Root with ZinCo’s New “Urban Rooftop Farming System.”

– Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) presentation focuses on green roof design by R&S Landscaping President Robert Schucker.

– LiveRoof Introduces LiveWall ® – New Planted Wall System Achieves Simplicity and Sustainability.

– Roofmeadow Welcomes Two New Employees: Director of Design Laura Hansplant, RLA, LEED AP and Project Field Specialist Paul Spirou, LEED AP.

– Elmich Australia chosen for Intensive Green Roof project in Darlinghurst, New South Wales.

– Joblinks

–  Columbia Green Technology is seeking to hire a Western Sales Director based in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

– Industry News

–  According to a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, installing green roofs and cool roofs in southern California could save consumers more than $211 million in energy bills, reduce emissions equivalent to removing 91,000 cars from the road each year, and reduce stormwater runoff that pollutes California’s beaches.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

–  Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts:  “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 27: One Decade of Ultralight Green Roof Proof-of-Concept on Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: June 8, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

–  June 16th: is a Vegetated Roof Plantings Workshop, in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

– June 16th: is the 10th Anniversary Celebration of The Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT), in Chicago, IL.

– June 18th-20th: is TeCobI Expo 12, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (@TeCobIExpo)

– June 18th-22nd: is the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, in Milan, Italy.

– June 19th-22nd: is the 2012 APGA Conference: Garden Paths, in Columbus, OH. (@PublicGardens)

– And June 21st: is the 2012 World Green Energy Symposium, in Washington, DC.

– “In the News“

–  Richard Morgan of the Wall Street Journal Blog has a “Q&A: A [Columbia University] Professor Pushes for Greener NYC.”  Earlier this year, officials announced that the world’s largest rooftop garden will be built in Sunset Park in New York City.  Wall Street Journal’s Metropolis checked in with Columbia University microbiologist, Dickson Despommier, who advocates for urban greenhouses he calls “vertical farms.”

He talks about vertical farms around the world like NuVege in Japan that sells radiation-free vegetables from a three-story vertical farm, The Plant, in Chicago, and The Plantagon, a “true” vertical farm tower in Sweden.  He also says Queens has “all that empty, wasted warehouse space out there….It’s that these farms fix hunger, they fix unemployment, they fix health, they develop a sense of connection and community, they do all the best things a city structure can do.”

– The Seattle Post Intelligencer Blog says “Twitter employees revel in company’s new headquarters.”  Twitter moved 800 employees to the Art Deco building on Market, and Monday morning, they opened its doors with a rooftop barbecue and hundreds of employees relishing in the wonderful weather and new lush greenroof.  City officials hope this move will help jumpstart other corporate and commercial companies in the area to refresh and rejuvenate life and add green spaces into their own buildings.

Even Mayor Ed Lee, supporter of the six-year “Twitter tax break,” made an appearance at opening day.  You can check out the full article for pictures Twitter employees, and co-founder Jack Dorsey, took about the new Twitter HQ roof deck.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for   June 15th, 2012  on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from June 1, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for June 1st, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week is the City Creek Center, built in 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah. City Creek Center is Utah’s newest retail and dining destination and one of the largest sustainably designed urban communities in the state.  It covers two downtown city blocks and features a unique shopping environment with a retractable roof, a creek winding through the property, a pedestrian skybridge, and two 18 foot waterfalls.  The Center’s fully retractable glass roof is the nation’s first in a shopping center and retracts over the retail galleria so visitors can enjoy the shopping center in any kind of weather.  It also features three unique fountains that delight and entertain Salt Lake City shoppers with musically choreographed animations using the elements of fire and water.

Designed by SWA Group, City Creek has earned Silver LEED for Neighborhood Development as a pilot project.  Sustainable principles have been applied in design, construction and operation of City Creek; for example, more than 50% of the demolition debris was recycled. The 1-kilometer-long recreated creek with live fish and other flora/fauna habitat serves as the central organizing feature for the retail/housing/office development downtown, and is the largest flowing watercourse of its kind built on-structure in the U.S.  The water portion of the creek totals about 19,000 sf of over-structure greenroof, but paving, plantings, courtyards, and roof gardens add up to a total of 90,000 sf over-structure.  There is also a pond with live trout, lush plantings of native material and an interactive fountain in which children can play.  American Hydrotech supplied 300,000 sf of waterproofing for the entire City Creek Center.

What’s New

– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video

– Watch our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011  Episode #25: “Biodiversity and Greenroofs” Panel Presentation  with  Christine Thuring, Nathalie Baumann, Gary Grant and Dusty Gedge.

And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.

–  The Greenroofs.com eNewsletter

– Our May 2012 eNewsletter is out!    Check your inboxes for what’s been going on here all month long and if you’re not  subscribed,  click on the mail icon on our homepage and enter your e-mail address!

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  LiveRoof ® Selected for Green Roof on Biomedical Discovery District Facility at the University of Minnesota.

– Joblinks

–  Sika Sarnafil USA is seeking a Technical Sales Representative in the Greater Chicago Area, Illinois.

– Industry News

–  The American Institute of Architects introduced the first overview guide on how architects can implement the International Green Construction Code in their practice which was introduced in March by the International Code Council.  The guide, entitled simply, “Guide to the IgCC,” is meant as a one-stop-shop document exclusively for AIA-member architects working in jurisdictions where the IgCC is adopted or soon will be.

–  According to the 2012 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects, results show a preference for an undemanding outdoor space for lots of entertaining.  Landscape architects with a specialization in residential design across the country were asked to rate the expected popularity of a variety of residential outdoor design elements.  When thinking of gardening, Americans tend toward the practical and sustainable with native plants (86.3%), food/vegetable gardens (81.2%) – with over half of them preferred to be organic (61.2%), rain gardens (55.6%), and rooftop gardens (38.3%).

–  Sky Gardens Blog

–  Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts: “Submission Deadline to the Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence Extended to June, 1st!,” “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 25: Biodiversity and Greenroofs Panel Presentation,” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: May 25, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

– June 1: is the new submission deadline for the Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence presented in Chicago at this year’s CitiesAlive in October.

–  June 2nd: is the Summer Exhibition – Urban Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, in Brooklyn, NY.

The new Garden Shop will have  Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens, a comprehensive look at New York’s most exceptional rooftop gardening projects””including BBG’s Visitor Center””on sale for the first time.  Featuring an authoritative guide to NYC green roofs””including a rooftop farm in Queens and a high school classroom in the Bronx in addition to BBG’s own Visitor Center””Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens offers inspirational ideas and practical advice for a gardener of any level interested in learning more about gardening on the highest level.  Chapters include contributions from editors here at Greenroofs.com including: Green Roofs Past, Present, and Future, by Linda S. Velazquez, Green Roof and Living Wall Trends, by    Linda S. Velazquez  with Haven Kiers, and Green Roof Horticulture, by Edmund C. Snodgrass.

–  June 2nd-3rd: is the Mother Earth News Fair, in Puyallup, WA. Follow on Twitter: @MotherEarthFAIR #MENF

–  June 5: is World Environment Day. Follow on Twitter: @UNEPandyou

–  And June 6th-7th: is the 7th Annual Northeast Buildings & Facilities Management Show & Conference, in Boston, MA.

– “In the News“

–  Jackie Wills of The Guardian, reports on “M&S: a sustainable blueprint to behold.”  The retailer’s landmark Ecclesall Road M&S store combines a range of unique characteristics, from LED lighting to rainwater toilets; and has become a learning store, where sustainability skills are shared among staff and local students.  It is the first United Kingdom store to win full Forest Stewardship Council project certification.

Some of the unique features include: natural ventilation in the stockroom and staff areas rather that air conditioning, glass doors on mobile fridges that cut energy use by 45% and an HFC-free refrigeration system, water use has been cut by 46% by installing low flush toilets, sensor taps and a rainwater-harvesting tank below ground.  Also, sun pipes bring natural lighting onto the shop floor, every brick was reclaimed from a disused mill in Manchester and polishing the concrete floor meant no need for coverings; and the shop has a sedum roof and a living wall for wildlife, which among other environmental benefits, will insulate the store and filter pollution.

–  Sarah DeWeerdt of The Atlantic Cities, talks about “A 30,000-Square-Foot Community Garden, in a Parking Garage.”  The project, dubbed the UpGarden, will have space for about 120 local gardeners.  The project came about because Seattle’s P-Patch community gardening program was looking for space to build a new garden in the neighborhood.  Eric Higbee, a landscape architect working on the project says, “as far as we can tell it’s the first community-managed food production garden on a rooftop” in the country.

Typical green roof technologies were too expensive, so they settled on a series of wooden raised beds 12 to 18 inches deep, which will be filled with potting soil, which is lighter than topsoil.  Roofs are bright and hot, which should make it easier to grow hot-weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants but to offset the windy element and to help the soil stay moist, the team is considering putting in a drip irrigation system.  The knowledge developed here will aid in the development of other rooftop gardens in Seattle and elsewhere around our country.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for June 1st,  2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video.  Here is the transcript from May 4, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for May 4, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

-Our project of the week is the Fichtebunker built in 2009, in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Germany.  This 56 meter in diameter, nineteenth-century gasometer was made into an air-raid shelter in World War II and was then used as a shelter for the homeless refugees.  In 2006, the State of Berlin’s Real Property Fund sold the building to developers and two-story luxury condos were planned on top along with townhomes and a five-story apartment building on the land around the building.  Beginning in October 2007, 13 pie shaped family residences were built with curved walls and private gardens offering beautiful views over the city

The individual apartments are accessible through a landscaped community courtyard with a fountain, bamboo troughs, and an extensive greenroof.  Each house has its own roof garden with a size of 70 to 100 square meters.  The ZinCo System build-up “Heather with Lavender,” with the Floradrain ® FD 40 drainage element as a base, provides a permanently functioning lawn with planting areas and hard surfaces.  Also, the roof of the new flats received an extensive greenroof as well as the underground parking and the roof of the new building with 12 apartments next door.

What’s New

– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video

–  Watch the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 21: “Green Roof Technology Sails Around the World,” by Jörg Breuning.

And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.

–  Guest Feature Article

And read our latest guest feature article, “You’re Invited to Hangzhou, China for the 2012 World Green Roof Congress,” by Xianmin Wang, Secretary-general of the 2012 Hangzhou China World Green Roof Conference.

–The Greenroofs.com eNewsletter

-If you haven’t checked it out already, our April 2012 eNewsletter is now available!  So get caught up with everything that happened here at Greenroofs.com last month.  Sign up on the Homepage.

– Advertiser Press Releases:

–  Alumasc Chosen for Kidbrooke Regeneration.

–Eco-Roofs Helps Butler University Students Complete First Campus Green Roof Installation Atop Pharmacy College Building.

–Tremco Headquarters Renovation Receives Ohio Chemistry Technology Council Award.

– Joblinks

–  Xero Flor America Green Roofs is currently hiring 3 Sales Professionals in regional US markets.

-Sika Sarnafil USA is looking for an Inside Sales Representative in Canton, Massachusetts.

– Industry News

–  Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) is pleased to announce the results of its 2012 Annual Industry Survey of Corporate Members.  President of GRHC and GRP, Steven Peck said, “The green roof industry grew by 115% over the course of 2011, up significantly from 28.5% growth in 2010.  This great news comes on the eve of the launch of: 10th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference.”

-Speaking of CitiesAlive 2012, this year it will be held once again in Chicago, the site of their first Green Roof and Wall Conference.  Hurry to register for the Early Bird Discount rate by May 15! Visit http://citiesalive.org/ for more info.

–  Sky Gardens Blog

– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts: “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 21: Green Roof Technology Sails Around the World,” and “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: April 27, 2012.”

– “Upcoming Events“

-May 9th-10th: is the Greenbuild EXPO Sustainable Refurbishment & Building Event, in Manchester, United Kingdom.  (@GreenbuildExpo #greenbuildexpo)

-May 9th-11th: is Greenbuilding – International Exhibition & Conference on Energy Efficiency & Sustainable Architecture, in Verona, Italy.  (@GreenbuildingIT)

-And May 9th-12th: is The New World – The 20th Congress for the New Urbanism, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

– “In the News“

-Wayne Roberts of NOW Magazine, talks about “Hitting the green roof.”  He says a “crucial vote will decide if the city is serious about its greenroof policy.”  Toronto’s Green Roof Bylaw was passed in 2009, and requires green roofs on new commercial, institutional and residential developments with a minimum gross floor area of 2,000 square meters.  The issue is whether schools can be exempted from this bylaw.

The city’s chief planner recommended that the Planning and Growth Management Committee exempt public and Catholic school boards from the bylaw, saying that painting them white would reduce the heat stored on roofs and that those schools could store rainwater and offer green space on other parts of their property.  Another member of the Planning Committee opposed the school board’s attempt to sidestep their eco responsibility saying, “We expect them to be built smarter than before, and they  shouldn’t  get a pass on this.”  The city will save money in the long term, since greenroofs manage stormwater, reduce roof maintenance, lower energy bills, and help the environment among other benefits.  Schools also have the added advantage of turning their greenroofs into outdoor classrooms and teaching future generations about green infrastructure and how it enhances our lives.

-Mireya Navarro of the New York Times Blog has a “Q&A: [about] Greening the City’s Zoning Rules.”  She says, “Changes in New York City’s zoning code are expected to encourage the installation of rooftop gardens.”  This week the New York City Council unanimously approved a package of zoning changes that make it easier for property owners to undertake energy efficiency upgrades and even produce their own solar and wind power; and developers will also have more freedom to incorporate green elements into their building designs.  She asks questions like how many owners of the city’s million or so existing buildings are willing to foot the upfront costs to save energy in the longer term?  And how will things change for architects and developers once the zoning rules are relaxed?

For answers to these and other questions, she asked Howard Slatkin, director of sustainability for New York’s Department of City Planning, and Paul Freitag, the director of development in New York for the Jonathan Rose Companies.  Mr. Slatkin said they worked closely with architects, engineers, developers and other experts to identify the zoning obstacles to building or retrofitting green buildings.  Mr. Freitag says that one green element that seems to be growing in popularity is the use of greenroofs.  People in the industry are recognizing the many benefits of green roofs, like improved insulation, reduction of the heat island effect, stormwater management and food production; not to mention that green roofs are basically gardens with fantastic views.  You can go to the full article to read of all their answers to the New York Times’ questions.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn, and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

– This has been This Week in Review for May 4, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velázquez 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.