Green Roof Embodied Energy

According to the us dept of energy the average american household releases about 2 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as energy is consumed each year.

Green roof embodied energy.

However when you do the sums you find that the waterproof membrane beneath the living roof may well contain the same embodied energy as the tiles because of the high energy oil based material it is made of. Though the embodied energy is high there are few toxicity issues involved in the manufacture of clay tiles. The embodied energy for green roof components are 23 6 kg m 2 5 pounds per square foot co 2 of green roof. Concrete has a lower embodied energy but greater toxicity in its emissions.

The government s 2 billion green homes grant is potentially harmful because it does not consider embodied carbon according to john robertson architects sustainability chief colin beattie made the comments during a live panel discussion about the aj s retrofirst campaign and efforts to champion the re use of existing buildings held. This is the reason for oldroyd s xv green membrane which incorporates a centre layer of recycled plastic so reducing the embodied energy. Structural insulated panels sips are one of the most airtight and well insulated building systems available making them an inherently green product. 71 73 compared to clay tile or concrete roof covers through ongoing encouragement of recycling strategies and increased local recycling facilities able to embrace residual cradle to cradle material reuse.

By providing focused leadership and technical execution from our vast network of experience grc assures your energy solution is achieved with. Cooler than cool roofs. This value is equivalent to 6448 g c m 2 which is significantly greater than 378 g c m 2. An airtight sip building will use less energy to heat and cool allow for better control over indoor environmental conditions and reduce construction waste.

With energy costs continuing to rise the popularity of green roofing systems is also on the rise. Both sod roofs and lwa based lightweight aggregates roofs have been found to have a negative impact on the quality of their resulting runoff. Findings confirm that a sheet metal roof can obtain significant carbon and embodied energy saving benefits i e. From residential homes commercial buildings hotels and resorts schools and non profit organizations green retrofits designs energy solutions to reduce energy usage before producing renewable energy.

Our one square foot patch of green roof will save about 1 000 btus per year in cooling energy which means that it will take about 40 years to recover the process embodied energy of the green roof.