Green Roof Professionals around the globe often wonder or speculate how and when the commercial modern Green Roof industry really took off. There are many opinions and alternative facts out there but only a few really know that the hot spots with patents were in Basel Switzerland and in Stuttgart Germany for seamless or wall-to-wall Green Roof systems. The World’s first modular (or tray) system has been developed in Stuttgart by Brecht and Hämmerle, mainly known as the Brecht System (if one doesn’t consider terracotta pots on roofs as a modular system).   World’s first modular tray green ..read more

Why is AIR-to-WATER Ratio on Green Roofs so important? The air-to-water ratio is the ratio between air and water in the pores of a growth media.   Introduction (Challenges) On ground disconnected structures like roofs the available rooting space for plants is typically limited because of weight restraints. Additionally the Green Roof components and the plants are exposed to more extreme environmental impact like higher wind speeds, reflecting surfaces, higher temperatures, air pollution, artificial light at night, lower bio-diversity and more. In such locations the Air-to-Water ratio with ..read more

Net-Zero Townhomes Benefit From Vegetated PV Roofs This suburban Washington, D.C., project proves there’s no need to choose between a green roof or a photovoltaic roof: By Ted Cushman Developer-builders Jessica Pitts and John Miller of Flywheel Development had a goal and a problem with their Perry Street Townhouses project. Their goal was to build affordable net-zero townhomes in suburban Washington, D.C. Their problem was stormwater management: Rules in Prince George’s County, Maryland, required them to detain the runoff from heavy rainstorms on-site, rather than divert it into municipal stor ..read more

The use of Mineral Wool in Green Roof applications is an increasing trend in North America and in countries where such industry is still young or focused on fast profits rather than on longevity. One selling benefit of Green Roofs is the extended lifetime of the underlying water proofing because the Green Roof protects the roofing against the elements. Can Mineral Wool stand up to this? In controlled environments Mineral Wool or other mineral sponging elements work well – but pollute landfills after use Against any semi scientific promotional material from Mineral Wool applicators, the marke ..read more

Integrated Green Infrastructure That Lasts Celebrating two projects with 20 years of integrated Green Infrastructure in the heart of Stuttgart, Germany. It is over 25 years when Jorg Breuning managed the Green Roof installation at the Zeppelin-Carré (left) in 1995 and the Kronen-Carré (right) in 1999 (picture above) Over 500,000 sf of green roofs nicely visible on Google Earth. The Solar Garden Roof at the Zeppelin-Carré is considered the first of its kind on Earth. Green Roofs that pay back on the first day. The post Celebrating 20 years of Integrated Green Infrastructure appeared first o ..read more

Rooftop farming for educational and recreational purposes seems a fancy trend in North America.   In 2002 Dipl.-Ing Markus Wittling was planning to elevate an entire vineyard on top of the Wine Museum in Cologne, Germany. The sloped green roof spans over the entire museum building of almost 20,000 square feet. It is likely the first vineyard on a roof and the first sloped rooftop farm in the world.    See also Kölner Wein Depot    In the middle ages Cologne was the most important wine trading town north of the Alps. The “Weinmuseum Köln e.V.” is honoring this fact with ..read more