One of my favorite pet-peeves wanna-see-happenings, is finally getting off the ground in NYC. Now, if we can only bring that to Texas, where it’s desperately needed…
Green Roofs
Posted by happycrow on August 28, 2008
http://happycrow.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/green-roofs/
Previous Post
The Inexperience Factor
The Inexperience Factor
Alex
/ August 28, 2008I tried once to leave all the maple keys in my gutter one year on the claim that I was creating a “green gutter/squirrel toilet” but it didn’t make me the trend setter I thought it would.
Still, very cool idea, but I still can’t quite figure out how you replace sections easily that die or get torn up in a storm.
Andrew Reyna
/ August 28, 2008They had one of these near the house I stayed at in France. It seems easy as hell to do.
happycrow
/ August 29, 2008YOu need a frame over top of the house, with channels between pads, and in that frame to have your area for roots to seat. If a section dies, pop it out, replace it. Building it DIRECTLY into the roof is a disaster waiting to happen.
Alex
/ August 29, 2008Okay, now I understand the engineering and building setup. Thanks.
Mike
/ August 31, 2008Sheesh, people in Nebraska moved here and had to live in SOD buildings carved out of the ground. And worked hard to save enough money to build a real house. And now, we are going backwards…
I hate the green movement…
happycrow
/ August 31, 2008Actually, Mike, it’s not about being green. Shit, do I strike you as an environmental whacko?
It’s about efficiency. Roofs as currently designed are incredibly inefficient. Dark asphalt soaking up heat, which is then transfered directly into living spaces, requiring vast power to cool.
So, there are two good approaches: one, convert that heat directly to energy — solar, we’re working on that. Or, two, make a roof that doesn’t add to the problem. Green roofs, correctly engineered, do this.
My preference, of course, is fifty centimeters of ink-jet printed concrete, laced with gold nanoparticles to clean the air.
Mike
/ September 1, 2008OH, I wasn’t tarring you with the “Wacko” lable. I was just making a comment on how things come around historically. This just reminded me of all the old homesteader photos with people living in Sod houses and it seemed like a return to the old days. And, no offense to the old days, I would rather avoid the Sod houses. Yes, I know these are not full up Sod houses, but I can’t loose the image. And after hearing all the stories about life in the Sod houses as a kid, it is something I would REALLY like to avoid.
You a environmental wacko? Oh hell no, my apologies for that. But, hell I can’t explain it must be a Nebraska thing, but its SOD.
happycrow
/ September 1, 2008Well, the sod houses were hell. There’s a reason everybody got into a wood house as fast as they could, even though they were six times harder to heat.
Alex
/ September 1, 2008You don’t want gold nanoparticles to clean the air, you want TiO2 (Titania). One – its cheaper. Two – it can bond easier with concrete. Three – it’s sunlight activated.
Likely a far better option for roofs of the future is going to be:
Plant based (convert CO2 to O2, cool the house, filter runoff)
Solar Cell (covert sunlight to energy, cool the house)
Thermoelectrics (convert heat from black shingles to energy, cool the house).