Quantifying the Benefits of Green Roofs

This is my favorite kind of post. Penn State has some really good data for people considering green roofs outlined on this page. It’s not as simple as laying out some dirft and throwing on some grass seed. There is an innumerable variety of plants and soil types, as well as arrangements of both that perform differently under different conditions. At the Penn State green roofs test facility (check it out), they’re testing all of it. Of particular interest is the data they’ve collected on storm water runoff. If I’m reading it corectly, a green roof will prevent 3 times as much stormwater runoff as a traditional roof, in addition to providing filtration of what does run off. With increasing costs associated with stormwater there’s an obvious busines case here.
(via Greenclips)