Green Roof Resource

A competing technology? In Wired News: Scrubbing Bubbles Hit the Streets, the AP reports that Skanska is part of a joint $1.7 million Swedish-Finnish project to develop products that “clean” the air through a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2). TiO2 when exposed to UV light reacts with molecules (including NOx) and breaks down pollutants into benign substances that include CO2, H2O, and nitrate salts.

The price is more costly than standard materials but is heralded to reduce damage of concrete or cement due to environmental conditions. Similar predicament that green roofs and porous pavements are in. How do you make technologies that benefit society affordable to developers?

GEO-3: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK has a lot of useful information on the current state of the environment. I have found a couple sections within chapter 2, State of the Environment and Policy Retrospective: 1972-2002, to be quite interesting when considering how green roofs might fit into the earth system. Check out the sections on Atmosphere and Urban Areas to find out more.

Augustenborg Botanical Roof Garden

Originally uploaded by Browncoat.

I have uploaded some green roof pictures from my trip to Scandinavia. If you’d like to see more, please view my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarkce.

Here is a useful site for learning more about the acid rain program and the basics about cap and trade programs for air emissions. Learn more at EPA’s Clean Air Market Programs - Allowance Trading.

While conducting a literature review, I came across the Heat Island Group, which is part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It seems only natural for research into cool roofs to include green roofs. The group has a long list of published papers, which may prove useful as I begin to write my proposal.