I don’t know if we can validate it, but I think we’re the largest planted roof owner in the world. Of the size of GSA’s green roof footprint, Davis says, “it is just beyond belief as an owner to have that much square footage. Notably, they are expected to last twice as long as conventional roofs.Ī green roof that GSA studied paid for itself in about six years with a 224% return on investment with its extended life, storm water benefits, and energy savings. In fact, most of the costs of green roofs, according to a GSA cost-benefit analysis, are related to installation and maintenance. Other advantages include extending the longevity of the roof and aesthetics. They can support energy producing solar panels that are more efficient when cooled by the green roof ecosystem. Green roofs reduce polluted stormwater that runs into local bodies of water lessen energy use and costs in the buildings they top off and reduce urban heat islands, or pockets of concrete and asphalt that absorb heat and radiation from the sun. This design gives the occupants an advantage of views of the Potomac River, downtown Washington, as well as views of the various courtyards of the building.” Green roofs offer more than greenery, pretty views The USCGH green roof, installed in 2013, was designed “ to blend into the hillside which forms a portion of the sloping fringe of greenery or ‘green bowl’ around the city. “I think it's really powerful, this story.” I’m so proud to know that our tax dollars are being invested this way,’” says Lance Davis, GSA’s sustainability architect for 18 years. “Any time I speak in public or talk to people about the work GSA does, people come up to me and say, ‘I had no idea. On the USCGH roof alone, that’s almost as much as 10 football fields. Coast Guard Headquarters (USCGH) in Washington (pictured above). That’s about 50 acres – or 48 football fields – of green roofs, including what is believed to be the second-largest planted roof in the U.S. Today, GSA has over 80 buildings equipped with green roofs, spanning approximately 2.2 million square feet. While green roofs multiplied after the first Earth Day celebration in April 1970, reset your guesstimate about how far back the agency has been planting on its rooftops: GSA’s first green roof was installed in 1932 on the rooftop of the IRS building in Washington, D.C. But if you had to guess, would you say the federal agency that manages and leases more than 8,600 buildings nationwide has had green roofs for 20 years? 30? General Services Administration might seem like an unlikely innovator in that scenario. Green roofs seem futuristic, like gardens and oases spread out over building tops that before were shimmering with heat.Ī federal agency like the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |