10-19-2012, 05:51 PM
Got this from Wikipedia:
"Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect."
I have property in Eden Roc. We get a phenomenal amount of rain and have no county water. Rainwater catchment is a necessity and everything I have ever read about good rainwater catchment protocol is the opposite of what you would get with a green roof. For example you don't want to create a habitat for wildlife on the roof that your drinking water comes from. The water that makes it off your roof soaks into the ground due to the excellent drainage we have so in that respect we are not at all like the 90% asphalt cities where green roofs might make a difference. I have never been too hot in Eden Roc so that is another benefit we can't take advantage of. I have been too cold at night but soil, particularly wet soil like we would have probably 95% of the time, is a poor insulator. It provides mostly thermal mass. Thermal mass helps where there are large day/night temperature swings. We don't have that. As for mitigating the heat island effect I think it more practical to put the effort into appropriate plantings such as shade trees. Finally, we are in earthquake country. While researching methods of building a house out of all the stone we have lying around in Eden Roc I came across countless pictures of collapsed stone houses and constant references to how one of the major problems was the mass of dirt that poor people in treeless landscapes piled on their roofs in place of real (and expensive) insulation.
"Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect."
I have property in Eden Roc. We get a phenomenal amount of rain and have no county water. Rainwater catchment is a necessity and everything I have ever read about good rainwater catchment protocol is the opposite of what you would get with a green roof. For example you don't want to create a habitat for wildlife on the roof that your drinking water comes from. The water that makes it off your roof soaks into the ground due to the excellent drainage we have so in that respect we are not at all like the 90% asphalt cities where green roofs might make a difference. I have never been too hot in Eden Roc so that is another benefit we can't take advantage of. I have been too cold at night but soil, particularly wet soil like we would have probably 95% of the time, is a poor insulator. It provides mostly thermal mass. Thermal mass helps where there are large day/night temperature swings. We don't have that. As for mitigating the heat island effect I think it more practical to put the effort into appropriate plantings such as shade trees. Finally, we are in earthquake country. While researching methods of building a house out of all the stone we have lying around in Eden Roc I came across countless pictures of collapsed stone houses and constant references to how one of the major problems was the mass of dirt that poor people in treeless landscapes piled on their roofs in place of real (and expensive) insulation.