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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 March 30th, 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 March 30th, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.
– Our project of the week is the Mary Catherine Bunting Center at Mercy built in 2010, in Baltimore, Maryland. This 18-story 688,000 square foot hospital offers spacious, beautifully appointed private rooms, convenient front door drop-off, an expansive 2-story atrium lobby, three eco-friendly rooftop meditation gardens, and operating rooms equipped with advanced technology including robotics.
Mercy installed 17,500 square feet of greenroofs, totaling about $1 million, in three different locations. The gardens provide rest and recovery for the hospital’s patients, families and staff and they reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the interior of the building. The rooftop gardens feature recycled furnishing materials, native plantings and a water feature. Clinically proven, experts say that even a view of nature from a hospital window can improve patient recovery.
– To learn more about the Mary Catherine Bunting Center at Mercy, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).
– The Greenroofs.com eNewsletter
– Our March 2012 eNewsletter is out, so be sure to check it out all the highlights for this month! To subscribe to our newsletter just click the envelope icon on our homepage.
– Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Video
– Watch our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 16: “Vertical Agriculture: A Global Movement Starts Locally, from Wall to Table“ with George Irwin, Tom Ferraro and U.S. Congressman Tom Reed.
And find the rest of the videos in this series on our GreenroofsTV page and/or our greenroofsTV YouTube channel.
– Also read Kevin Songer’s first contributing blog post as our new Tropical Green Roof Editor.
– A new report released by the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition identifies green infrastructure as a cost solution policy makers should be considering on the eve of the Ontario Budget and in subsequent political discussions centered on doing more with less. Health, Prosperity and Sustainability: The Case for Green Infrastructure in Ontario argues taxpayer dollars spent on green infrastructure offer a greater return on investment because of the multiple economic, health and environmental benefits.
– Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts: “Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Episode 16: Vertical Agriculture: A Global Movement Starts Locally, from Wall to Table,” “Welcome to Kevin Songer, Greenroofs.com’s Tropical Green Roofs Editor!,” “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: March 23, 2012,” and “Less than a Week to go for Earth Hour 2012!”
– “Upcoming Events“
– Tomorrow, Saturday, March 31st: is Earth Hour at 8:30pm local time, Worldwide!
– And April 5th-6th: is the ASLA Texas Chapter – Regional Conference & Expo, in Grapevine, TX.
– “In the News“
– Dean Johnson of the USDA Blog says, “USDA Works to Reduce Its Environmental Footprint – Here’s How.” He asks, “did you know that USDA manages 193 million acres of land; occupies approximately 89 million square feet of office and laboratory space and operates over 23,000 buildings? And if this isn’t enough, USDA also operates a fleet of over 40,000 motor vehicles and equipment.” It’s reducing its reliance on nonrenewable energy by improving energy conservation, increasing efficiency and promoting renewable energy projects and programs, supporting green transportation and travel practices that reduce harmful emissions, increasing operational and fuel efficiency, and reducing nonrenewable fuel use.
The Department created the USDA Sustainable Operations Council to help keep this effort going. For example, the USDA greenroof on Court 5 of the South Building saves energy and reduces excessive stormwater runoff, which in turn supports their efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. USDA’s future plans include reducing GHG emissions from USDA operations by 21% by 2020, increase use of energy performance-based contracting investments by $5 million over the next 2 years, complete energy evaluations of USDA’s most energy-intensive facilities by July 1st, 2012, and increase alternative-fuel use in fleet vehicles by 10% by 2014.
– Jim Motavalli of the Mother Nature Network talks about “Paving paradise: It’s time to reinvent the parking lot.” Some great ideas are getting realized when it comes to parking lots and multi-story garages, like having music festivals on garage roofs, green gardens and solar canopies. One person helping the cause is Eran Ben-Joseph, an MIT professor who has a new book, “Rethinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking.” Ben-Joseph’s happy parking lot has “a forest of solar canopies to “˜produce energy while lowering heat,’ porous asphalt to stop stormwater runoff and trees “˜planted in rows like an apple orchard, so [the park] could sequester carbon and clean contaminated runoff,’ and has regular activities, including farmers markets, games of street hockey, tailgate parties, and the aforementioned concerts and film screenings.”
Motavalli says he loves the greenroof idea. The 12-story parking garage at 900 North Michigan in Chicago has a 16,866 square foot greenroof, and the new Yankee Stadium has a unique garage rooftop park that covers seven acres and a full city block, with trees and plants, a soccer/football field, a 400-meter running track, eight handball courts, four basketball courts and a workout place.
– 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 March 30th, 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.
