WEBVTT - Growing a Green Roof 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.440 Yeah, welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:16.280 stuff works dot com. Wow, hey guys, a welcome podcast. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.520 This is Alice Manauth, the science editor at how staff 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.680 works dot com. And this is Robert Lamb, science writer 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.000 at how stuff works dot com. And since you guys 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.720 are listening to us, you often can't tell what shenanigans 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.320 were up to here at the house Stuff Works headquarters 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.880 in Atlanta. But one of the shenanigans we have going 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.840 on is a grilla gardening escapade. And you can talk 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:36.720 a little bit more about this than I can. Yeah, 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.800 a few of our co workers, um Mark, Candice and 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.559 Marie um set out to occupy our empty planners out 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:46.320 on the patio. We have a five of these things, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.839 like big concrete monstrosities, and for like over a year, 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.519 all they've had in them have been dirt and uh, 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.240 like a few weeds and people have been I was 0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:00.000 actually like occasionally composting like an apple core out there. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.080 So we had a few like doomed apple trees and 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.319 you know, coming out and occasionally someone thrown orange peel 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.160 in or or sadly a cigarette. But but that was 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.679 all and bet I know who that was. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.160 I think we probably both do. But but anyway, nobody's 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.600 doing anything with it. And for there was some rumblings like, hey, 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:18.480 you know, we should go out here and plant this, 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:20.080 because for a while you're like, oh, well, maybe you know, 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.080 somebody else is gonna do it, maybe like the building's 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.600 gonna take care of it. But they're not. So they 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.720 set out. They brought in some soil, they brought in 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.120 some some seeds and planet like some you know, it's 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.080 like tomatoes and basil and all this and lo and 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.240 behold it's sprouted and you can go out there now 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.320 and we have planners full of green things. However, if 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.880 you walk out on the patio, you know, right now, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:45.520 in the heat of the Georgia summer, it's gonna be 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:47.960 a whopper. The sun is going to blast your face 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.800 off and the heat hits you almost like a physical force. Yeah, 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:53.960 it just it makes you slow and it makes you stupid, 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.960 which which we found out at the Discover Your Impact 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.320 day last week when we did this service project, right 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.000 right when we were digging in the dirt. Yeah, it 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.080 just makes you Like I was having a conversation with 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:06.680 one of our coworkers about how we used to have 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.720 offices on the eleventh floor. But now we're in and 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.560 uh and how I wasn't sure if we had something 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.120 on sixteen, but I was just saying fifteen for everyone, 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.160 So it was really confusing for him and I, you know, 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.480 it's just hapt your brain. But the thing is, it's 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.480 like if you walk out on that patio after the 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.520 sun has gone down, it's still hot because there's all 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.000 that heat still emanating up off the concrete. Robert. That 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.280 has a scientific name, doesn't it. Yes, that is the 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.440 heat island effect. Yeah, And like you might imagine, the 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.400 heat island effect is something that's largely confined to cities. 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.160 And why because cities are, of course mostly man made structures. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.799 Cities are made with materials that often have low albedos, right, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.280 or the ability of objects to reflect solar radiation. So 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:49.440 the classic example, I think, if you're wearing a white 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.120 T shirt, it's going to have high albedo, and a 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.560 black T shirt has low albedo, And cities are a 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.920 lot like those black T shirts, right. And when you 0:02:57.960 --> 0:02:59.639 think about it, I mean, what is the city it's 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.400 you know, oh, it's asphalt that that absorbs all that heat. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.880 It's um you know, city buildings, it's tenements, it's all 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:11.160 this stuff. It's enormous parking lots full of full of 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.880 you know, just black asphalt. And then of course you're 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.320 suffering from a lack of vegetation unless maybe you do 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.720 have a lot of green roofs or guerrilla gardening going 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.480 on in your particular city. And so that means cities 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.359 don't benefit from the cooling effects of something called evapo transporation. 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.160 And evapo transporation facilitates more cooling by using heat to 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.320 evaporate water from the whatever you're you're growing the plants 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:34.880 in and the plant surfaces. So this is kind of 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.960 a handy process that we like a lot of appo transporation, right, 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.560 not happening so much in the cities, right. But yeah, 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.800 back to the patio. The patio is not a green 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.200 roof today. We're talking about green roofs. Yes, indeed, the 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.320 patio is just you know, it's good. It's it's a 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.080 it's a great thing we're doing out there. Uh you know, 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:55.839 it's it's making things a little prettier. Air qualities maybe 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.920 a little better, but maybe with some fresh tomatoes with lunch. Yeah, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:03.240 But but no green roof is something um a little different, right, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:04.640 So what is a green roof? I mean, on a 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.240 basic level, it's really just a layer of vegetation on 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:12.920 a home, on a commercial building, any structure with the roof, basically, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.000 unless the roof is so pitched that having a green 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.080 roof would be impossible. Yeah, and may I know maybe 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:20.560 if you had like a f roof, you could like 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.120 grow things in it. I suppose so, And we could 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.880 be talking about anything from just putting groundcover up on 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.520 top of the roof to building a huge park. And 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.760 I think when most of us think things like green roofs, 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.560 we think of, you know, this lush setting. We think of, 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.119 you know, lots of plants. We think a little walk ways, 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.320 We think of a bench maybe to sit down and 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.719 eat your tuna fish sandwich. What's the one in Chicago 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.599 that looks amazing Chicago City Hall? Yeah, Like you see 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.360 pictures of that and it's like it's like an eden 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.760 up there. It's like the hanging you know, gardens of Babylon. 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.640 You can imagine Chicago. You can imagine what was the 0:04:53.200 --> 0:05:00.200 mayor daily the governor. Yeah, you can just imagine him 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.520 up there, like being fed grapes as you like reclined 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.719 on something. You know, that's exactly what I think of, right, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.080 So in that and that can be a green roof, 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.880 but not necessarily right, So that kind of roof that 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.320 we're talking about, this lush setting is going to be 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.000 an intensive green roof. And there are really two main types. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.120 So intensive is one, and uh, it's gonna be park 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:23.760 like like we're getting at. And it's also going to 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.520 be a heavier load to bear on the underlying structure. 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.000 I mean, after all, you're gonna have people chomping around 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.960 up there, and uh, it's going to be more costly, 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:34.640 and of course you'll need an irrigation system for all 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.640 those plants, those lovely plants you'll have. But so you 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.880 still want to do a green roof, but maybe you're 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.080 not interested in something so extraordinary. So yeah, so in 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.560 that case, you go with what they call an extensive 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.600 green roof, right, less maintenance, it's less lush, and you're 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.000 gonna have substrate between less than an inch and six inches. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.400 And all they mean here is think about the level 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.520 that you're going to go down to plant. Right, that's 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:01.359 where we're at. That's what we're talking about. With a substrate, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.640 think of your vegetative layer and then all the way 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.080 down to uh the actual roof lair. So if you 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.440 think of that distance, um, with an extensive green roof, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.080 that distance is going to be about six inches, whereas 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:17.320 if you have an intensive green roof, the vegetation can 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.000 go down to about four ft. I've seen Yeah, I 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.360 actually got to see an extensive green roof last week 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.760 at the Woodroof Arts Center here in Atlanta, right and 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:27.479 you've blogged about it too. There are pictures of it. 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.720 What I'm saying, Yeah, from part of our energy three deal. Um. Yeah, 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:33.200 they let me go up there and uh and take 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.800 a look at the rooftop and it's you walk up 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.359 there and it basically looks like someone just took a 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.120 bunch of planners with like, you know, some gravel and 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.800 some little seed ums, you know, these semi succulent little 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.520 desert plants. A big fan of the seed um by 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.279 the way, I don't know if you've put a planet 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.120 any of those with your wife, but you know, we 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.159 have a little a little succulent garden. I think we 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.520 have set ums in there right well, and that's key 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.760 to what you plant on your roof, because of course 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.919 they're gonna be bearing the brunt of this intense sun, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.000 especially in the summertime, it might not be getting a 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.520 lot of rain. Um, Like like in Atlanta, you know, 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.920 we're kind of prone to droughts recently, right, So you're 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.280 gonna want to make sure plants are heat and drought tolerant, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.200 and then you're also going to want to supplement their 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.800 water use with the irrigation system. Depend upon what you 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:17.280 have going on up there. Yeah, Like for instance, the 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.480 would roof they have there what wood, Well, it's basically 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:22.400 walk up there. It's like a grid of planners, like 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.200 the whole rooftop flat roof grid of planners, and then 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:27.480 it's two different rooftops where they have this system set up. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:32.600 And I believe they had somebody. It's scad um actually designed, 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.320 Like there's like if you really look at it, there's 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.080 like a swirl kind of pattern because they use different 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.640 varieties of seed them um. But this is basically for 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:41.600 if you're you know, if you're a bird, or you 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.520 live in one of the taller buildings around it, you know, 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.320 or if you're one of the you know, tour groups 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:49.000 or you know, or or podcasters guess to come up 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.040 on the roof. You know, you can appreciate it. But yeah, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.800 it's just a grid work of these planners and then 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.960 they have they have some of the irrigation stuff up 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:57.840 there for you know, just in case and you know 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.120 it's you know it's becomes a drought such suation and 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.440 actually that and then the water for that comes from 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.880 you know, their their rainwater, you know, drainage systems. So 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:09.560 uh so, yeah, it was actually really cool but also 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.800 really hot. So you can definitely see why there are 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:17.160 desert plants growing up there because it's you're really blasted. 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.480 So what have they noticed, if anything benefits from from 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:22.800 their green roof? Um, well, I mean it pretty much 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.600 lines up along the accepted benefits. I mean it's um 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.440 you know, it's it's part of an overall effort that 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.920 they're doing there to to tweak their energy usage, which 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.199 involves like there's they have some smart grid technology going 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.360 on where they can track their energy usage in real time. Um. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:39.880 They The big thing they did is that they just 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.839 like through they had a big energy add at a 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.800 few years back, and they just threw themselves at at 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.480 at revamping their heating and air conditioning, uh, in terms 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.720 of the hardware, but also in terms of like how 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.080 they use it, like they figured out how you know, like, oh, well, 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.320 you know we probably shouldn't, you know, air conditioned everything 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.200 on a weekend. You know, so it's like what can 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.200 we not air condition? And you know, and and then 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.840 you know, how much are we using this particular space, etcetera. 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.600 So it's you know, smart management, smart smart tech, upgraded materials, 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.600 you know, tweaking everything, so they've saved you know, bunches 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:15.120 of money. Um, it's really cool. Yeah, So you might 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.760 be wondering how much a green roof could cost you. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:19.200 So I pulled a couple of numbers when we were 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.680 researching this podcast, and I came up with ten dollars 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.360 to twenty five dollars square foot according to the e 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.120 p A. And of course you're gonna have some annual 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.240 maintenance costs thrown in there, and those are going to 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.560 range from cents to a dollar fifty because again, the 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.120 idea is that you're not gonna need to go up 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.680 there a lot and manage this stuff. It's it's hardy growth. 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.400 That's the idea, right, right. Of course, some of your 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.320 plans are gonna die. Stuff is going to go wrong. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.520 You will have to do some stuff, and that's where 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.520 the maintenance costs come in. But yeah, hopefully it's running 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.320 smoothly or running greenly, as the case may be. And 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.200 just for comparison, do you have any idea what the 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.160 cost of a regular roof is? I wanted to see. Oh, 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.800 thank goodness, I don't have any personal experience that yet. Yeah, 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.000 I don't really eat either until this afternoon. Um, so 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.520 there was a there's, of course a little handy roofing 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.480 calculator online and I ran the numbers and it's so 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.520 it's about for a roof that's thirty six ft by right, 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.400 made from your basic asphalt jingles, you know, the black 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.840 kind of sparkly jingles you see on a lot of houses. 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.280 So that's gonna be roughly five dollars per square foot 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.360 compared to the ten dollars to twenty dollars to even 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.600 I saw forty dollars per square foot for a green roof. Yeah, 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.400 so it's costly, but you can argue that the payment 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.000 is going to come in the long term. It's just 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:41.079 are you patient enough for that? Mm hmm return on investment? Okay, yeah, 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.200 they said with um at the would reflect. The main 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.640 um expense in setting it up was just using a train, 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.800 not a train, but using a crane to move everything 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.440 up there. That the you know, the the actual materials 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.760 were minuscule. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and you know, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.839 if you don't have the funds for a green roof. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.679 Um one of the things it we came across was 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.120 a white roof. Have you guys heard it is? Yeah, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.600 painted white. It's like the opposite of the stone song 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:12.800 everyone's we have of that podcast we did on fighting asteroids. Yeah, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.480 where you just if you want to deflect an asteroid, 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.880 you just painted white so that the solar radiation just 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.280 s gradually pushes it off course, right right, right, So 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.840 the idea behind a white roof is that, of course 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.199 you paint it white and you reflect more sunlight and 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.880 it can cut your energy demand during the hot months. 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.200 And it's it's kind of like rubbery almost, That's what 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.040 I read. So you have kind of this rubbery white 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.000 stuff on your roof now that I don't know if 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.880 it would fly. And this historic just drink that we're 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.880 trying to build a house, and yeah, your historic districts 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.880 I guess you're gonna want to go for Italy houses 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.840 that at least look like they're poorly designed, right, No, 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:52.480 like the you know, like you know what I'm saying, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.520 It's like they're not gonna be cool with. Like someone 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.200 comes in, it's like, hey, I need to you know, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.360 I'm using this geometric design. You know, my house is 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.360 gonna be made out of mud, you know, and it's 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.000 it's more ecologically, uh, you know, ideal for this number reason. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.920 They're not gonna fly with that. They're gonna be like 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.439 like that, that house looks stupid. Well, so we had 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.280 to go for the before the Historic District Committee. And 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.360 one of the things that they suggested to us, so 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.199 that was passed around before we could move on in 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.320 the permitting process to get this house rolling, was they 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.880 thought our flat roof was going to be so ugly, 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.080 so they suggested, well, why don't you just put a 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.680 green roof on it to mask the ugliness, But that 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.920 that's not in the budget. Yeah I don't think. So 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.439 you decided to go to geodesic dome, right, Yeah, that's 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.840 the final and then in the straw Straw Bill garage 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.719 right next door, Yeah, we have a fine article on 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.199 straw Bill Holmes. I want to add by Molly Edmunds. 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.200 It was one of the first articles I ever did. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.760 Ed do we have one on geodesic domes. We have 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.760 one on a couple of other alternative home styles. Cool. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.400 Now you should look at that podcasting. We have so 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.760 many light Yeah, Like I can't even necessarily keep track 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.320 of all we have. I discovered new how stuff works 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.760 articles every week. I think. Yeah, so, how else are 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:04.360 you going to benefit from a green roof if you 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:09.000 decide to go this route, Well, the roots gonna last longer, right, Yeah, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.240 that's just it. And it's another it's another layer of 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.400 insulation as well. Yeah. So I mean it's gonna be 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.000 a little cool things down, it's going to be able 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.600 to insulate your house, and it's gonna give you some shade, right, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.640 And I feel like we should talk about we should 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.839 quantify how much cooler are we talking? So there was 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.440 one floor to study commissioned h They found that the 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.600 average maximum surface temperature of a green roof was eighty 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.360 six degrees fahrenheit. Meanwhile, the nearby light colored roof was 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.720 a hundred and thirty four degrees fahrenheit. Right, seriously, eighty 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.400 six degrees versus a hundred thirty four degrees, that's significant. Yeah, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:45.560 it is pretty significant. Of course, I don't know how 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.440 big that steady was, and but still that's a that's 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.839 a that's a big difference. And also rooftop plants that 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.920 they can suck up the carbon. So yeah, we like that. Yeah, 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.960 so that's good. It's always nice to have another car 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:01.920 in storehouse around. Yeah, and you get it right on 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.679 top of that way. And then there's a whole stormwater 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.199 runoff issue, right, so if you have a green rooftop, 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.439 a lot of that water that's coming down during a storm, 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.280 it's going to hang with the plants, and you know, 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.679 as a bonus, it might be filtered and or absorbed 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.760 by the plants instead of swirling gutters and jumping directly 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.160 into a wastewater chances instead of going into the sewer. 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.920 It's it's it's generating life on your roof. Yeah, that's 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:29.400 pretty sweet. Um, yeah, let's see producing energy use touched 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.320 on that. You know, it's just you're more instant and 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.760 more insulated, so you're gonna cut down on your heating 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.920 and cooling cost and pluses that we touched on a 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.640 little bit earlier. Your neighbors like might like it. I 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.280 mean it has some aesthetic value, right, Yeah, it depends 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:43.920 where you where you live, Like, what is it the 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.400 Late clear Land Trust here in Atlanta, they'd be cool 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.560 with green roofs. Is that the is that the hippie 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:52.040 that's the hippie place? Yeah? Offcandler Yeah yeah yeah, where 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.080 they have like the gross stuff, and they have drum circles. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.640 What's with drum circles? I like drum circles. I'm just 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.920 saying that as long as they complaine play djano with 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:01.720 their feet. Do you think they can play jangle with 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.560 their feet? That they can do all kinds of things 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:09.080 with their feet. Yeah, And as you were saying, um, 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.120 the green roof actually could last you longer than a 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.080 conventional roof. And then of course you have a little 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.840 nice sound installation and a habitat for wildlife. Which brings 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.280 me to one story that I was reading about. So 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.760 there's this Virginia man that was thinking about putting a 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.840 green roof on his log cabin and he wrote into 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.280 the U. S. Green Building Council's Green Home Guide about 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.040 you know, the wisdom of such an effort and the 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:37.000 consultant who answered called called that idea a real expensive 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.680 squirrel feeder. I was just I was just thinking about that, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.160 Like could I just put nuts all over my roof 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:43.880 and have like a brown roof where it's just nothing 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:48.280 but fat squirrels, right, because essentially the cabin owner isn't 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.440 gonna have to worry about the urban heat island effect, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.000 you know, being a log cabin at all. I'm assuming 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.000 the log cabin is some some nice patch of Virginia 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.000 woods not necessarily situated in the heart of Richmond, and 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.000 he's not gonna really gonna have to worry about the 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.200 storm water over running the sewers. But yeah, the squirrels 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.880 would definitely be down with that. But then you need 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.280 like roof snakes and stuff. It just becomes a an 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:15.400 arms race squirrel traps or you know. I know all 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.960 my I know a lot about keeping squirrels out of attics, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:19.880 but I don't know about keeping them off of the roof, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.320 because you can keep them out of the attics by 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.760 like during the winter, by like putting up some hot 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.640 peppers in there, or have you tried this, Yeah, like 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.440 I've I've known, like when we first moved into our house. 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:32.640 They were hot peppers hanging up to keep squirrels out, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.120 but I didn't recognize at the time, so I took 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.040 them down. And then you can like buy like these 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.720 spicy powder pellet things that are they are made for 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.080 you just make it too spicy for the squirrels to 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:46.160 stand it. And your wife was talking about putting the 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.160 strobe lights. Yes, that was this my my my father 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.360 in law did that, I believe right, putting the strobe 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.640 light in the attic and it got rid of the squirrels. Yeah, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.320 that's so great because they hate disco. No, no, they 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.760 hate raved music. Sorry, they might hate disco too. I 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.400 don't know anything that's shiny lights. I think just because 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.560 coming back Robert is it, it might be good. Um. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.600 So what's the setup here of the screen roof? You're 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.880 probably wondering? Um, Yeah, like if I wanted a green 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.920 roof tomorrow, could I get one? Well, let's talk about 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:17.280 it first. Let's let's run you through some of the 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.399 layers we've got going on here. So of course you 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.440 have your plants, your vegetative layer, whether it's seto, whether 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.640 it's grass or maybe even a tree or two. Um. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.440 But again, you're gonna have to think about the roots 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.399 system here, so you're not gonna get big trees, and 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:30.920 of course you don't want the weight of a big 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.119 tree on your roof anyway. That doesn't seem so so smart. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.840 So these are gonna be smaller plants. And then you 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:41.880 have whatever the plants are growing, and you're growing medium, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:43.399 and then you're gonna have a barrier, and that's going 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.479 to provide stuff good stuff like drainage and aeration and 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.879 water storage. And then comes your insulation, and then you 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:54.680 have another protective layer, and then you have a roofing membrane. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.240 And lastly, and very important, you have your structural support 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.040 too to bear up the whole endeavor. Ye, Like in 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.439 the woodroofe case, they said that the roof of the 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.439 existing building was it was a pretty green design anyway, 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.439 and that it was. They said the roof was just 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.440 way over engineered to begin with, so like, wait, wasn't 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:16.240 even an issue. Really, that's pretty cool, yeah, And so 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:17.960 one of the interesting things was you can get this 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.720 in a modular system. I was reading about a green 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.920 grid system that consisted of a series of pre planted 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.000 modules and they're made of recycled plastics, and well, the 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.200 the trays that hold the plants, not the plants. Plants 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.240 aren't made out of recycled plus that would really be 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.840 a good joke. And these modules can be easily placed 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.760 on a roof or a different structure with the capacity 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.240 for it. Well that's cool. Yeah, So business with a 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.760 suitable roof, rooftop environment already, they can just start ordering 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.280 these things up, right, and you're gonna you're gonna want 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.080 to think about irrigation system too, depending on what kind 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.440 of system you go with. Yeah, and you can also 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:57.919 get a built in place system. But the trouble with 0:18:58.000 --> 0:18:59.760 that is that you may have to roll back vegetation 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.480 if you have to troubleshoot something going wrong. God forbid, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.200 you know your roof starts leaking, or all of a 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.359 sudden you s brought a route coming through one of 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.400 your air events and the ceiling. That would be bad um, 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.840 and you could wind up waiting a while for vegetation 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.080 to grow in and be green. So the question here 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.760