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THE GREEN ROOFS AND WALLS INDUSTRY *

*at this time, in Toronto, ON

We recently worked for a local client and they wanted to know the ‘411’ on our industries via our 30+ blogs so far - now you get to see that exact memo (with a few parts omitted/redacted). Thank you for visiting our work!

• THE TYPES OF GREEN ROOFS -

  INTENSIVE 

• Vibrant Palette Award Winning Green Roofs & Walls (Part 2) — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

  • The extensive lightweight and “soilless” system used on Two Old Mill is 30 mm thick and is comprised of loose-laid base layers and a pre-vegetated mat. The mat includes 8-10 species of sedum and arrives mature with 80 per cent foliar coverage.  This extensive system is beautifully blended with a vibrant palette of perennials planted in an intensive green roof system.

    SEMI-INTENSIVE

• Used in the City of Toronto bylaws and guidelines for example.

  EXTENSIVE

• GREEN WALLS TOO -

• Living green wall partnership blossoms | Insider Media

  • “In KTP2, I Want Plants and MMU will be researching and utilising advanced environmental data analytics and applied artificial intelligence to produce bespoke reporting dashboards on the accrued and future sustainability impact following every HYVERT installation. 
    Data collected will include carbon capture, air/water pollution reduction, rainwater re-utilisation, noise/heat attenuation and biodiversity net gain.”

• [Vertical Green Living Walls Save up to 20% of Energy Used in Closed Spaces - FMJ](https://www.fmj.co.uk/vertical-green-living-walls-save-up-to-20-of-energy-used-in-closed-spaces/ )

•    We also have reports on the energy-saving benefits of vertical green living walls in enclosed spaces.

• IRRIGATION, WATER, WHITE, SOLAR, PALETTE, GEO/TYPE, NEEDS/ETC.

• Choosing a roof or wall plant palette (Groof) — Experts in Green Buildings

• Irrigation - And while we’d love for our green roofs to be green 365 days a year, irrigating or artificially watering them is costly and not ideal for the environment.

• Instead, you should do things like: install green roofs in rain season, choose your ‘plant-palette’ wisely

• A Novel Multipurpose Self-Irrigated Green Roof with Innovative Drainage Layer**: This paper presents a new design for green roofs that addresses issues like weight, water retention, and cost-effectiveness [(Pirouz et al., 2023)](https://consensus.app/papers/novel-multipurpose-selfirrigated-green-roof-innovative-pirouz/b0198c873b0d5808b6607026835b2c83/?utm_source=chatgpt ).

• Stormwater -

• More building owners around the world are increasingly embracing green roofs and similar green infrastructure technology to manage stormwater.

• Many companies in our field do not care enough to help set you on the right track when it comes to optimizing your green roofs interaction with water.

• The Potential of Coconut Waste as Green Roof Materials to Improve Stormwater Runoff**: An exploration of using recycled coconut waste materials in green roof designs to reduce peak flow and manage stormwater runoff [(Romali et al., 2023)](https://consensus.app/papers/coconut-waste-roof-materials-improve-stormwater-runoff-romali/86632cdecb555062bbbc0ffcd148ae0c/?utm_source=chatgpt ).

• Effects of Green, Blue, and Blue-green Roofs on Runoff Quality**: A study comparing the runoff quality effects of different eco-roof types, including green, blue, and blue-green roofs [(Zhang et al., 2023)](https://consensus.app/papers/effects-green-blue-bluegreen-roofs-runoff-quality-zhang/4d3043be6acd5871ad5455aa3b76d0de/?utm_source=chatgpt ).

• Schools -

• Introducing more natural elements into the built environment reduces stress and anxiety while improving well-being and mood for students (and staff) in schools

• This research from 2018 agrees and adds: “Green walls have the potential to inspire critical thinking”.

• White /cool —

• We’re grateful to The City of Toronto for sticking their necks out the last decade as the only North American city to provide building owners with this motivation and opportunity. This inspired the Groof co-founders to help boost the still immature field that is green roofs and walls in urban centres, whether in Toronto, or next door in Markham.

• Incentives aren’t borders and green roofs (and walls) are all about community building. Communities like customers or employees will appreciate the extra lengths a building owner has gone to keep a building up with the times.

• PARKING ROOFS?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEjJaeotA5A&pp=ygULZ3JlZW4gcm9vZnM%3D

  • 2,525 views Jan 9, 2024 #greenroof #greenroofs #livingroof
    Portfolio of Green roofs and Parking-roofs, designed, executed or supervised by engineer Orlin Iliev. MSc.Eng. Orlin Iliev is the author of the technical "Guide for the design and installation of Green Roofs and Parking-roofs with drainage composites", published by the Bulgarian Association for Insulation in Construction (BAIS, bais.bg).

• BEES

• Bee Diversity on Urban Rooftop Food Gardens**: An investigation of bee species diversity on urban rooftop farms and its implications for crop pollination [(Riehn et al., 2023)](https://consensus.app/papers/diversity-rooftop-food-gardens-riehn/38ec92e2b1475fcf83e6fea4056ecb63/?utm_source=chatgpt ).

• More bees, please. — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DbmAwRGJ2Y )

• Rooftop beekeeping program launched in Vancouver

• FARMING -

• This Startup Wants to Make Rooftop Farming the Future of Sustainability | Fast Company - YouTube

  • “Gotham Greens, the Brooklyn-based urban-farming startup, aims to prove that growing crops in greenhouses on city rooftops can be more efficient and sustainable than traditional methods.”

  • Similar to the video above, this company shines a light on the need for farming within cities and how roofs help.'

• Meet the Woman Behind Asia's Largest Urban Rooftop Farm - YouTube

  • “We’re at the point of risking our lives by living in the city.”

  • This architect earlier designed Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, which is simply an inclined park to collect rainwater.

  • She designed the green roof for Thammasat University with the same concept in mind, “because [gravity] is the cheapest technology that we can on Earth”

  • They also grow rice and do much more on the Thammasat University roof top.

  • With Beijing being at risk of climate change, the architect believes the city will flood eventually due to runoff water.

• Blog on “regenerative farming” on green-roofs amid climate-change challenges - coming soon.

•  SURFACE HEAT -

• Hot Living Roof Test. 185° Degrees! - YouTube

  • Posted just 3 days ago. This 4-acre building was built in 2006 with a green roof and has Silver Leed building status.

  • This is actually the same roof (Aqualand) that collapsed in 2011 (we wrote about it in our ‘Dangers’ blog) rebuilt.

  • The black roof is too hot in the summer to touch, at 185 degrees, a 100 degree difference from the temperature.

  • This video also covers rainwater runoff and shows just how fast water rolls off of regular roofs (hot water at that).

• ESG score -

• (99+) Boosting Your Real Estate Portfolio ESG Score with Green Walls and Green Roofs | LinkedIn

  • “100% of respondents from Asia, 90% in North America and 85% in Europe expressed current demand for healthy buildings as moderate or strong”

  • “Also note - not only are green roofs a healthy building strategy for building occupants, but they also protect your physical building asset, protecting roof membranes and enabling them to last 40 to 60 years longer than a roof membrane not protected by green roof layers.”

• MEASUREING/MAINTENAINCE -

• OCTOBER 28, 2023 - A two-year green roof experiment begins in Rabat (timesofmalta.com)

  • Securing Green Roof Maintenance in Shiraz - Living Architecture Monitor](https://livingarchitecturemonitor.com/articles/securing-green-roof-maintenance-in-shiraz-wi2 3)

  •    - Focuses on strategies for maintaining green roofs, specifically in the context of Shiraz.

  • Performance Evaluation of Large-Scale Green Roofs Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Runoff Modeling Using MUSICX**: This paper presents a framework for estimating the catchment-scale impacts of green roofs on runoff quantity and quality [(Nguyen et al., 2023)](https://consensus.app/papers/performance-evaluation-largescale-green-roofs-based-nguyen/a4a55e60a78051288e29088da8d6d618/?utm_source=chatgpt ).

• CONSTRUCTION -

• Green Roofs Reap Climate Benefits: How Do You Build One? - National Observer (Dec 2023)](https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/12/19/explainer/green-roofs-reap-climate-benefits-how-do-you-build-one )

  •  Explores the climate benefits of green roofs and provides insights into their construction.

• Peoples anxiety etc

• More than a View: School Landscape Features Are Associated with Improved Student Adjustment - PubMed (nih.gov)

  • The purpose of this study was to determine whether greenery and impervious surfaces surrounding schools are associated with student internalizing and externalizing problems.

  • Research indicates that natural features surrounding schools are associated with better academic achievement, enhanced focus, and reduced stress in students. However, few studies have examined the associations between school landscape elements and anxiety, depression, and behavioral concerns in students.

• SOLAR: PANELS, ETC. -

• Solar Panels & Green Roofs — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• 𝐌𝐄𝐏 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐲 Green Roof Keep 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 cool and more efficent - YouTube

  • “pre-planted modular planting tray system that supports long-term plant sustainability with ease of maintenance. The system offers a quick solution to establish extensive green roofs.”

• The futuristic solar panel — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• RESIDENTIAL -

• Green Roofs & Walls: Global Impact — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

  • 'For residential green roofs, one of the core benefits is insulation, both from heat and also from the cold, so your energy bill goes down,' says Riane Hunt of Recover Green Roofs, LLC(opens in new tab), a green roof design and installation company in Somerville, Mass. 'Houses lose a lot of energy through the roof, and they intake a lot of energy on the roof, too. Green roofs retain a lot of water, which reduces the ambient temperature in the air around them.

• OCTOBER 24, 2023 - From grey to green: the plan to turn Paris’s zinc rooftops into gardens | Cities | The Guardian

• RETAIL -

• OpenAI, GPTs, and Groof. — Experts in Green Buildings

• WEATHER -

• Cattle Barn Roof Collapses During Winter Weather - WBAY (Jan 2024)](https://www.wbay.com/2024/01/13/cattle-barn-roof-collapses-during-winter-weather/ )

  •  Reports on a cattle barn roof collapse, highlighting the challenges of maintaining such structures in extreme weather.

• Staying Green in Snow — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• DOWNSIDES -

• Investigating the Dangers of Green Roofs and Walls (Groof) — Experts in Green Buildings

• This video too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxKMI8bV-oY&pp=ygULZ3JlZW4gd2FsbHM%3D

  • 17 views Dec 19, 2023 SEATTLE
    Outdoor green walls are a cool concept, but difficult to maintain. We need to be more cautious in the plants we select and where we install them in our cities.

• PROS -

• Remembering the Upsides of Green Roofs and Walls — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• Great collection of PROS Remembering the Upsides of Green Roofs and Walls — Experts in Green Buildings (groof.ca)

• The installation of a green roof can also help to reduce the strain on HVAC systems (and, in turn, lengthen their life-cycles) by tempering the need for heating and cooling year-round.
  Global Green Roof Market [2023-2030] | Thriving Industry with Significant Growth - Benzinga

  • “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Green-Roof market size is estimated to be worth USD 11170 million in 2021 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 25880 million by 2031 with a CAGR of 12.6 Percent during the forecast period 2022-2031.”

• GOOD VENDOR -

• [The Birth of LiveRoof and Its Ongoing Path of Innovation - GreenRoofs.com (Jan 2024)](http://www.greenroofs.com/2024/01/11/the-birth-of-liveroof-and-its-ongoing-path-of-innovation/ )

•   - Chronicles the development of LiveRoof and its continuous innovations in the green roofing industry.

• NEW TECH -

• GardNet Expands Range of Roofs That Can Be Greened - Living Architecture Monitor](https://www.livingarchitecturemonitor.com/gardnet-has-expanded-the-range-of-roofs-that-can-be-greened )

  • GardNet, a new technology that expands the potential for greening a wider variety of roofs.