Recently, I attended a presentation with home and garden industry professionals who spoke on the subject of green innovation with respect to sustainable buildings. One of the most interesting segments of this event was presented by a 
representative of LiveRoof® on their prevegetated green roof system. I was only tangentially aware of the prominence and significance that green roofs play in today’s environmentally conscious world.
Basically, LiveRoof® has created a simple, effective, efficient and modular system that gives you the look and function of a conventional green roof. In a nutshell, you grow plant life on top of your home or building in a very simple, easy-to-care-for, carefully as well as skillfully thought out system.
At first, this may seem a little eccentric like a 70s-hippy movement initiative aimed towards creating an environmentally conscious society. But LiveRoof® has created a system for commercial, industrial, governmental and residential applications that make a lot of sense. Here are some of the core benefits of integrating a LiveRoof® on the top your next or existing projects:
• Green roofs protect the roof from the sun, wind, heat, and cold and can extend the life of the roof by up to 40 years.
• Reduce air conditioning costs by 25% or more (for the floor under the green roof)
• Reduce or eliminate storm water discharge fees
• Allow building owners to sell or rent their properties more easily
• Help to reduce the effects of Global Warning
• Release oxygen and absorb green house gases
• Earn LEED credits
• Keep pollutants out of lakes and streams
• Absorb sound and reduce noise
LiveRoof® makes the whole process of getting a green roof more manageable and just plain old easy to do. They use pregrown flowers and vegetation and modular containers that they install on the top of your home or building. Green roofs should only be applied to appropriately engineered buildings, and LiveRoof® professionals can determine whether your home roof can sustain the weight.
For those die-hard green doers, this is an exceptionally good idea to look into and for those of you just getting your feet wet in the eco-friendly movement, you just might find this information useful.
For more information on LiveRoof® call 800-875-1392 or go to liveroof.com.
Dear Jennifer,
I understand that you are impressed by the idea of greenroof technology. Certainly Live roof is an attractive system for some small residential projects and the system promotes green roofs very nicely. It is one of many systems.
However in Europe – where I installed more than 50 million square feet of green roof in the last 28 years – modular system were never successful because less environmental friendly, to difficult to custom built for the roofs (all roofs are different) and far too expensive.
So called “in-place systems” or “wall-to-wall systems” are the best (and most efficient) solution when you want to take advantages of ALL the benefits of green roofs. An article about that might help the readers make their own decision.
Again, I think modular systems have their place in the market and promote the technology very well which is good. The future however will be with less expensive and more efficient in-place systems – more efficiency means more environmental friendly, too.
Thank you for the article and the option to discuss.
Regards
Jorg Breuning
Jorg, thanks very much for your comment. I will admit—I am not an expert on green roofs, so I spoke with Mark Sullivan at TerraLogos:eco architecture (terralogos.com), and he agrees with you that different systems will work for different situations.
Many times, it’s difficult for the novice gardener to get the plants established on a roof in the first year or more. Because of this, many clients will opt to go with a modular system, even though it is expensive initially. As you note, roofs come in all different shapes and sizes, so it can be difficult to customize them. But, working with a reputable company will help to ensure flourishing vegetation right away.
For the more experienced gardener—one who is willing to put in a lot of time and effort from the start—it sounds as though “in place systems” are the way to go. There is less initial cost involved, but they are more labor intensive.
The bottom line with modular green roofs and in place systems is that those who decide to develop one are making a commitment to maintain it—either themselves or by hiring someone. It’s best to become as educated as possible on all of the different options out there. No matter what system clients may choose, green roofs should be thought of like gardens: without tending to them, the plant matter will not last.
If you have information or links on “in place” or “wall to wall” systems that you can share, I’d love to learn more.
Dear Annliese,
our webpage http://www.greenroofservice.com has many information about wall-to-wall systems – without naming any manufactuerer. Actually there are suppliers in the US who offer all the components – with installation manual for wall-to-wall green roofs. On wall-to-wall gardeners have the advantages to plant what they want or think works best for their roof. Modules – as said – expensive and you get what they have. Check it out and let me know whether you like to learn more.
We recently did a nice project: http://lawnclub.blogspot.com/
Regards
Jorg
Great! Thanks for the links, Jorg.