How Can Green Roofing Help Improve the Quality of Life in Many Ways?


Making energy efficient buildings by reconstructing the roof, or making an energy efficient roof plans right from the inception of the building plan is a wise step you can take to ensure you live well ahead. Energy efficient means to use your resources in such a way that your residential or commercial building can use the least power for heating and cooling as per the season, and you can save on your energy bills, and save on the state’s natural’s energy resources, as well as your money on the bills. Moreover, this improves the quality of living with a lot of beneficial factors which one must know to make smart choices in life ahead.

Introduction to Green Roofing

If you have not encountered the exact terminology before then first, you should get accustomed to the term Green Roof. Green Roof refers to that kind of roofs which contains a green walk, greenery, or roof garden whatever you prefer to say. It’s a kind of roof with provision for making a garden, set plants and trees, shrubs and grasses, and do regular gardening in free flow. You may decorate the garden in any way you like just like you decide if you want to plant lawn grasses or roses, veggies or trees in your yard garden; all at your discretion.  That’s why they are also called living roofs or rooftop gardens.A green roof can be cultivated in one part or patch of your roof, or through the entire roof while including walkable space through the greenery.

On completion, the green roof may fulfill many of your desires. You may bring your pet to walk and play, bring children for fresh air and play,you may also exercise, walk and relax, and definitely, you can fulfill your gardening desires if you are enthusiastic about it. But there are many more benefits of green roofing which would not be visible, and only would be countable as you continue using it for years.

Energy efficiency with a green roof

A green roof has the power to absorb much of the weather, and keep the building below it unaffected by the harsh weather to great extents. The ability of the green roof to keep a building cool during the warm summer months, and again keep the interiors warmer during the cold winters is a great savior of energy. Much of the power that you wasted on keeping the building warm in winters and cold in summers need not be used at all. And this is where energy gets saved. It has been calculated that in a building with the full roof being used in green roofing, almost 75% of the energy otherwise used without the green roof can be conserved and saved. And this is significant savings from a personal and humanitarian point of view.

From a personal point, you are already in an advantage if you have a green roof because you are already consuming less energy, getting much smaller bills, paying lower than earlier, and thus directly saving money. And from the larger perspective, you are adding to savings for the country, state, and city by using less energy that comes from mostly burning of nonrenewable resources. Less power will be needed to fuel your home or office building, and it would be a significant step to reduce consumption of non-renewable sources of energy. Also, you contribute less to the Urban Heat Island Effect, which is a great feeling.

When too many concrete structures are in one place, clustered together, as it’s a typical scenario in most urban places, cities, office areas, etc., then more heat is generated out of this kind do of building placements and human living. The more people concentrated in an area, the more heat gets generated. In this way buildings and concretes do trap in a lot of heat, and it has been recorded that the temperature in such places is much higher than temperatures at unpopulated or vacant place. The heat pollution level drastically gets increased in more populated and congested areas. And with a green roof on your building, you can reduce your part of the heating to a large extent, as the building itself absorbs much less heat from the sun and surroundings. Whatever heat the building receives is absorbed for constructive reasons to a great extent by the greenery built above.

Many people actually are taking this initiative to build green roofs on the homes and offices, commercial building, etc., so that they can contribute their bit for the environment and ecosystem. And you too can do so by taking professional help from roofing contractors who have experience in many roofing and solutions.

A good investment for many reasons

Green roofs are smart investments for many reasons:

  • A green roof lasts much longer than traditional roofs. Traditional roofs without any soil or greenery directly absorb the heat, sun, wind, rain or snow, and the full weather, thereby getting highly impacted by weather conditions. Naturally weathering shows on such traditional roofs over time, and in some years they start aging. In the case of green roofs, the depreciation is much lesser, and the life and quality of the roof stay healthy for much longer compared to traditional roofs. That’s because all the weather the roof receives, getabsorbed and utilized in nature that is surviving over the roof. And this acts as a shield not just for the roof, but for the whole building underneath. Hence once made and cared for, a green roof lasts much longer, and prevents recurring expenditures on roof maintenance and repairs as compared to traditional style roofs.

 

  • As per your plan of the vegetation on the roof, the roof’s greenery can have exceptional power to remove particulate matters from the air, reduce and absorb much of the airborne allergens, and supply you with fresh oxygen. It acts like your own piece of fresh air supply where you have total control of nurturing.

 

  • Storm water runoff is reduced massively by the presence of green roofs. Areas which get too much of rain and spotty irrigation are prone to water damage, and chances of these are lowered a lot by green roofs as more and more buildings contribute to more green roof making. These roofs are actually good flood deterrents. When highly expert roofing contractors strategically design green roofs, then the chances of flash floods get reduced, because the runoff rainwater gets absorbed better than getting flooded on concrete and nonporous streets. The problem of water standing gets lower.

 

  • Temperatures get reduced due to green roofs, and due to much better-regulated temperatures and fresh oxygen been added to the air, the quality of air improves even in a very urban patch of the settlement. Much of the air pollutants get caught by the greenery nurturing over the roof.It is a good step towards public health improvement and also fulfills the damages caused by chopping off of the plants and trees while maintaining the buildings to some extent.

 

  • A green roof also serves as ecology for being the home to many insects, creepers and crawlers, birds and small animals.

 

  • You cannot forget the aesthetic appeal that it brings to your property through an energy  green rooftop garden. They look great and stylish, add to greenery and visual fresh appeal, and definitely increase the value of the property too.

Never see the expenditure in the making of a living roof

It would be a very silly approach to step back from your living roof making decision, just because you foresaw a significant expense of making this kind of a roof compared to traditional style roofs. If you have the slightest wish to make a green roof on your property, you can always talk to experienced roofing contractors for out of the box smart ideas, which can control the budget, and also fulfill your wishes. You may choose to develop a certain part of the roof into a green roof or utilize the whole roof area as per your choice and budget. But this step definitely would be paying you back in life as you start counting your energy bills, quality of life, and roof maintenance and building maintenance expenses in the future.

The long-term benefits of this kind of roof make for a really tempting promise towards elevating the quality of life, both for the roof user and people staying nearby. The best you reap out of it is savings in your utility bills which shows directly. Moreover, their life expectancy is generally twice the life of ordinary roofs, because they protect the waterproofing protection of the building, and avoids wear and tear of the rooftop coat.

How can you build a green roof?

Whether you are planning the property construction from scratch, or are renovating your old roof, you can always plan to make it a living roof by appointing roofing contractors who are experienced in this field for years.

Contact roofing contractors in your area and ask for quotes to get started!

Author Bio: Karen Anthony is a Professional Home Décor Expert. She is well known for her expertise in home décor opinions and blogs about interior design and homes.

 

About Amanda

I love to buy a lot of products for the home, and dissect them out. I split them into duds and winners, and share the findings here on my site. As a reader of my site, I'm aiming for your next purchase to be an informed and inspired one.

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