10 Jan 2019

Kid’s book and video promotes environmental education

“Growing UP in the City: A Book About Green Roofs” is an activity book developed by environmental educators with a mission to promote urban ecology education.

Make career day more interesting! Explain green roofs to kids with the help of the short animated video and the activity book Growing UP in the City.

“Growing UP in the City: A Book About Green Roofs” encourages young readers to join friendly bumble bees as they travel into the city to go on an adventure and learn all about green roofs.

As part of their outreach project botanists Kelly Ksiazek and Olyssa Starry created a fun and educational book that delves into green roof benefits and design.

The 24-page activity book includes word searches, games, plant identification, bug hunt and ‘design-your-own green roof’ project.  It also introduces how green roofs play a role in  reducing our environmental footprint, for instance mitigating the urban heat island effect and reducing stormwater pollution.

Beautifully illustrated, this environmental education resource is intended for children from 2nd to 5th grades, as well as for educators and parents to enjoy.

A hard copy is available for purchase at Amazon and a free digital copy is available at Greening Up the City site.

The book’s creators welcome your comments and can be reached at kellyksiazek@u.northwestern.edu.

 

Landscape Architecture for Kids: What is a Green Roof? Animated Video Short

Green roofs, such as the StormCap system, are a great way to help the environment and improve your community, says Giraffe a landscape architect to his friend the Little Yellow Bird.  This fun animated video was created by University of Nebraska/Lincoln College of Architecture and is aimed at elementary school students to learn and build their own green roofs.

Giraffe tells Bird what a landscape architect does and how green roofs work in cities “On a hot summer day where would you rather play on hot concrete or on cool grass? Paved surfaces trap heat and make cities hot on sunny days but green roofs help keep cities cool so people don’t run their air conditioners as much and that saves energy green roofs help save the world from climate change and that’s good for our community.”

Bird asks: “Can I learn to be a landscapte architect?” and concludes, “I’m gonna build the best green roof ever …”

Your Green Roof Specialist / Design Consultant / Maintenance Support

Stormwater Capture Co prides itself in being a hassle-free, one-stop-shop supplying vegetated systems that can be customized to local requirements, with warranty and maintenance support. We also offer ​access to a variety of analytical support service​s such as ​stormwater calculations specific to location ​and building/roof type. Read about our StormCap vegetated system with high water retention-to-weight ratio.

15 May 2018

Green roof retrofit brings nature back to urban core

Dedicated to sustainability, NYC Convention Center embodies world-class technological innovation

NYC Convention Center green roof brings nature back to urban core.

The 6.75-acre green roof on the Javits Convention Center makes the 27-year-old building an example of sustainable retrofitting – attracting many species of birds, bats, bees and even tourists who go on rooftop tours.  This NYC landmark is also closely monitored by a team of engineers from Drexel University and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art who have designed and installed sensor systems to track its environmental impact.

CEO very pleased with performance of vegetated roof

In a recent interview with NPR (see video below), Javits’ CEO Alan Steel explained the significant aesthetic, environmental and economic benefits of the green roof.

Honey harvested in Fall of 2017 from NYC’s rooftop.

“Besides the great reaction, there are practical benefits.  We have three hundred thousand bees, we’ve seen 25 different species of birds on the roof. We reduced the temperature out here by about six degrees Fahrenheit and we also save about seven million gallons of stormwater runoff that’s absorbed in the  soil and the plants.  We’ve been able to reduce our energy consumption by about twenty six percent and that translated for us last year (2016) into a saving of about three million dollars.”  Javits is now also selling honey harvested from the rooftop.

“The success of our sustainability program epitomizes our rebirth as an organization, and this first batch of honey illustrates how far we have come in our efforts to reduce energy, create a wildlife haven and improve the quality of life in our neighborhood,” said President and CEO Alan Steel.

Green roofs are a learning laboratory for Engineers

Professor Franco Montalto in the department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel College is the lead researcher on the Javits green roof project. He says in recent years the City of New York has made major commitments to sustainability and green infrastructure.

“The Javits Center green roof exemplifies the kind of environmentally sensible urban redevelopment projects that the City wants to encourage. The retrofit building will reduce urban runoff, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and, potentially have a cooling effect on the streets and buildings that surround it. Our research will seek to quantify these benefits,” said Montalto.

Watch NPR feature on Javits

Montalto’s research team is currently also monitoring more than 15 other green infrastructure sites in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Students from The Cooper Union will monitor the data and use it to learn about and model functional sustainable design projects.

“The Javits Center green roof project provides Cooper Union students with a significant learning opportunity to study sustainable design and use New York City as a learning laboratory,” said Dr. Joseph Cataldo, a professor in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at The Cooper Union.  “Our students are presently developing a model to predict the thermal behavior of the green roof using climate and infrared data. This information will be helpful to better gauge hydrology and temperature variations of the green roof, which, subsequently, is an important part of determining and understanding temperature patterns in green roofs and New York City as a whole.”

“Water and energy are intimately linked through the process of evapotranspiration,” Montalto said. “Incident solar radiation changes liquid water, originally deposited on the roof by precipitation, into water vapor which then leaves the roof surface. The energy consumed by this process keeps the roof and building cooler than it otherwise would be, since without the green roof this energy would simply heat up the roof surface. At the same time, if the air in the vicinity of the air conditioner intake pipes is cooler, these units have to work less to cool the -already cooler- building.”

For more on the Drexel and Cooper Union green roof research, click here.

About Stormwater Capture Co – Supplier of High Performing Vegetated Roofs

Stormwater Capture Co supplies green roof systems with high water retention to weight ratio, ideal for retrofits and new builds.

Our team prides itself in being a hassle-free, one-stop-shop supplying vegetated systems that can be customized to local requirements, with warranty and maintenance support. We also offer ​access to a variety of analytical support service​s such as ​stormwater calculations specific to location ​and building/roof type.

Stormwater Capture Co supplies a range of systems from lightweight to biodiverse.  Premium base layers ​include​ the ​Needled ​M​ineral ​H​ydro ​B​lanket.  Sedum blanket and base layers can be easily cut to fit any shape and design.​

Contact us 855-786-7626 or send drawings to info@stormwatercaptureco.com get an estimate for your project.

Copyright © 2018 Stormwater Capture Co. LLC. All rights reserved.

01 May 2018

Benefit of green roof discovered after “historic” hailstorm

Green roof ‘hail-proof’ while exposed  roofing membrane required replacement

One year ago, the most damaging hailstorm in Colorado history wreaked havoc on cars and roofs and caused $2.3 billion dollars in insurance costs, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

Dynia Architects designed the 140.,000 square foot FLIGHT building

Denver developer Kyle Zeppelin had hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to his membrane roofs at his latest office development in The Flight, in the River North District.

“All of the membrane roofing was required to be replaced as a part of the hailstorm,” he said.

While his regular roof had to be thrown out, Zeppelin said he found his luscious green roof – on the same building – was hail-proof.

“The green roof here was left completely intact after the most-recent hailstorm,” he said.

It’s an unseen upside, Zeppelin said, that more than outweighs the upfront costs.

“This is not likely to be the last hailstorm, so there’s that advantage and the green roof provides a significant installation value over just the membrane,” Zeppelin explained. “It’s a win-win as far as [it] makes sense economically, makes sense for the environment, and really enhances the livability of the building,” he said.

Watch news clip and read Jennifer’s full story here.

About Stormwater Capture Com – Supplier of High Performing Vegetated Roofs

Our team prides itself in being a hassle-free, one-stop-shop supplying vegetated systems that can be customized to local requirements, with warranty and maintenance support. We also offer ​access to a variety of analytical support service​s such as ​stormwater calculations specific to location ​and building/roof type.

We specialize in supplying green roof systems with​ high water retention-to weight ratio such as the StormCap system. Our premium base layers ​include​ the ​Needled ​M​ineral ​H​ydro ​B​lanket and can be easily cut to fit any shape and design.​

Contact us 855-786-7626 or send drawings to info@stormwatercaptureco.com get an estimate for your project.

Copyright © 2018 Stormwater Capture Co. LLC. All rights reserved.