Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Antonino Giglio, Jan 22, 2009.

  1. Antonino Giglio

    Antonino Giglio Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2004
    Messages:
    83
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Dear friends,

    As some of you already know I'm very passionate about Living Architecture which includes Green Roofs, Rooftop Gardens and Vertical Gardens.
    And it is not just a passion only because they look good but because of their amazing sustainable features.

    Here is a full article regarding Green Roofs and their benefits:
    https://thecitygarden.wordpress.com/greenroofs/

    So, because here in Australia we still don't have laws regulating the field I thought to start a cause to demand a Green Roof Legislation in Australia. The first goal is to reach 1000 members by mid-2009, the second goal is 100.000 members by the end of the year and hopefully reach 1 million people by the end of 2010.

    For this cause I've chosen Facebook and that was done for 2 reasons. Firstly it has a huge visibility worldwide with a community of more than 150 million people (and still growing) and secondly because all users are real people. In fact I could have started an online petition but the people who sign those petition can be fake (there is no way of really know who they are) and therefore make the campaign useless.

    In favour of Facebook I've also have to say that since I've been using it (more than a year now) I've already built a quite interesting worldwide network with people working or passionate in the same field.

    Contrary to many people belief, Facebook is not stuff for silly kids but a really great way of networking worldwide.
    It was originally started to find old classmate from University (that's why the name) but was then opened to everyone and now is the top social network in the world. Althought not primarly business-oriented like LinkedIn, Facebook has the major advantage of having a huge number of members. This makes it the number one place on the internet for reaching idividuals and communities with zero cost.

    So, this cause was created to demand a Green Roof Legislation in Australia that would make green roofs compulsory in all new buildings and would tax subsidies the retrofittings of old ones. This is already happening in coutries like Germany where green roofs are now compulsury and 14% of their roof is already green.

    A legislation would speed-up the adoption of green roofs, rooftop gardens and vertical walls, making therefore our cities healthier and more sustainable in a very constructive way, focussing on practical solution and not on problems.

    I invite everyone to join this cause, to invite your friends to join too and ask them to do the same.
    We need the help of everyone!

    https://apps.facebook.com/causes/177531?m=454a9415

    If you are not yet a member of facebook you need to join it first. But I assure you that you won't regret it.
    As I've already said before I've been using facebook for more than a year and built up so many professional contacts.

    Thank you very much indeed for your support!

    Antonino Giglio
     
  2. ppp

    ppp Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2007
    Messages:
    550
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    to encourage green roofs is one thing, but to legislate that you HAVE to have a green roof is another. Am I hearing you right that you want to FORCE people to install green roofs? I am thinking of all the poorly built and completely unmaintained green roofs that could occur because the building owners were forced to have one.
    Surely a carrot approach is the way to go for this?
     
  3. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2006
    Messages:
    4,771
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    I was surprised to hear opposition to Green architecture on an ABC debate i recently listened too.
    Some architects in Sydney have formed and anti-green architecture group.
    I think they don't want their creativity hindered by having to use certain materials etc
    While,, like Price Charles, I have never had much time for most, modern architects (They all seem fixated on Lego blocks), I thought this attitude was really out of step with most community feeling. Perhaps they are a reaction to being forced to do things. So ppp may have a point. Perhaps leading by example might be better than proscription, Although I think the Reader's Digest building in Sydney has has a green roof for 30 years (?)

    We need a lot of green things like:
    green, living plants in offices instead of plastic ones
    more sensible planting under power lines
    water to water gardens
    help for poorer people to buy plants
    more teaching of gardening in schools
    green buildings (energy efficient etc -see the new Council office block in Melbourne)
    Backyards for people to grow things in, or if we can't afford that as a community, more Community Gardens.(allotments)

    Perhaps also many councils' ban on reflecting light coloured roofs.
    Wouldn't they reflect heat off the planet?

    You may be interested to read this thread
    https://hypography.com/forums/environmen ... dings.html
     
  4. ppp

    ppp Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2007
    Messages:
    550
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    fleshing out whatI was saying , what if the RULE that you had to have a green roof, meant that a designer was not allowed to put a combined photovoltaic solar plant and rain harvesting system on the roof. This might be an extremely good thing also..??

    Lets say the designer has already provided extra green-space on the ground? Should the law then be used to force them to put the solar on the ground (in the shade of the buildings where they won't work) and the plants on the roof? That doesn't seem sensible??
     
  5. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2006
    Messages:
    4,771
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    Antonio
    This might interest you
    [​IMG]
    Urban Greenscapes Symposium 2009

    Also NGIA Confrence
    NGIA Conference 2009

    The WWF should stick to looking after endangered wildlife- of which there are many.
    It was they (?) who came up with the crazy "Earth Hour" convincing people it would save energy
    I note that, with criticism, they are playing that lie down now.
    I was appalled to see them get an environmental award for the concept

    They don't seem to think though their campaigns very well.
     
  6. Ichsani

    Ichsani Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2005
    Messages:
    184
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    PPP,

    I believed that green roofs would come at the expense of solar as well as tank water too - but I've since changed my tune.

    I read a study stating that solar panels work BETTER above a green roof as the vegetation lowers the temperature meaning greater efficiency in the panels performance. Photovoltaic efficiency does decrease as it gets hotter so green roof + photovoltaics = more efficient energy collection.

    50 C vs 25 C (standard roof vs roof with greenery) is a big difference that occurs when the most sunlight is falling on the roof - so I am not surprised.

    Green roofs also can't hold all rainwater that falls on them so there will still be water running off (albeit at a slower rate after rain - which is a good thing!).

    This water can still be collected and returned to the roof with a simple irrigation system - not a drinking water catchment, more like natural air-con.

    It much easier to have buildings made to take the weight of a roof garden (I don't think it could be more weight than another floor - it shouldn't be too hard) from the beginning as opposed to retro fitting so I think a compulsory rule is an excellent idea - but only above a certain building density - it would be silly to apply a blanket rule like this especially in regional areas. Only for the shitty-city that needs all the help it can get.

    Also - there is no reason why a green roof can't be made to be a mix of long grass and perennial herbs intended to be looked after once or twice a year. Might give the birds some safer nesting sites in the shitty-city too.


    Antonino,

    Sorry - don't plan to be a facebooker but good luck all the same.


    Cheers
    Ichsani
     
  7. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2005
    Messages:
    2,922
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    G'day Antonino :)

    I admire your passion, and encourage you to continue with your work. However I personally do not believe that we need further legislation entering into the planning/building arena - already we have enough trouble trying to implement impracticable/unworkable provisions and policy.

    What we truly need (and once again, this is my personal opinion) are hundreds, if not thousands of demonstration eco-villages operating across all major urban centres throughout Australia (see: suggested reading below). And yes, let's work at getting green roofs/walls into these schemes, but only through example, and never through the force of law.

    Sorry, but I do not go in for the networking sites.

    Good luck, Mark.

    Suggested reading:

    Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change (2008) by Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, and Heather Boyer

    https://sustainability.curtin.edu.au/loc ... _Final.pdf
     
  8. Ice Czar

    Ice Czar Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2009
    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    I'd personally expand that to "through incentives, as a matter of law"
    counting towards green points for instance

    there are a great number of areas in the building trades and industries that provide both unreasonable hurdles (earthwork structures for instance, only New Mexico here in the States has clear building codes on the subject) and encourage business as usual environmentally costly or toxic materials / practices.

    it is a sad state of affairs when municipal ordinances become viral, and at the same time discourage true innovation and sustainability. Few municipalities have the ability or resources to adapt codes to local conditions and assess public safety concurrently.

    locally I would for instance be hard pressed to recreate a traditional masonry building that has stood for the past hundred years without ridiculous cost in engineering signoffs and permit variances.

    how exactly would retrofitting a few extra tons of static load increase the safety of a structure?

    the whole premise of the campaign is flawed, and will be soundly defeated and refuted because of its radical position, doing a disservice to the cause it seeks to further. One which I personally support.
    IMO
     
  9. ppp

    ppp Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2007
    Messages:
    550
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Please Supprt the Cause for a Green Roof Legislation

    Quite often, including, for example almost all light steel structures, the "design load" ie, the one which requires the heaviest support is actually UPLIFT. This is due to potential high wind.
    i therefore don't see the static load being a major problem.
     

Share This Page

-->