Principal researcher: Prof. Leon Blaustein

Background

Green roofs or living roofs – i.e. roofs that contain growing substrate and vegetation - can mitigate many of the negative environmental impacts that urban environments create.

“Green” services that they can provide include:

thermal insulation for buildings which decreases energy use for heating and coolingmitigating a heat island effectmitigating carbon dioxide build-up and climate changeaesthetic qualities of natural beauty and recreational spacefilters for gray water and storm-water runoffmitigation local plots for agriculture and medicinal plants;Increased efficiency of photovoltaic panels by lowering roof temperaturesCritical habitat in otherwise highly limited urban environments to house ecological communities thus aiding in preserving biodiversity

The Kadas Green Roofs Ecology Center website