Go Green, Make Green: More Efficient Green Rooftop Installation Methods Mean More Profit

By: Jason Wedmore

The “green” movement has taken over our way of thinking. From hybrid cars travelling the roads to reusable shopping bags being offered in grocery stores, we find green initiatives everywhere we go. With the big push from various organizations and government legislation, this is a trend that we will remain active for years to come.

To further the cause, many cities are encouraging the installation of green roofs, an aesthetically appealing, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to tar, gravel ballast, shingles or tiles. Green rooftop contractors have been cashing in on this trend as the industry grows, but to really make the big bucks, some have been utilizing new equipment that blows away traditional installation methods, literally.

By pairing up with pneumatic blower truck owners, contractors are saving time and money, and truck owners are expanding their services and increasing profit as well. It’s a situation where everyone wins: contractors and truck owners profit, and customers get exactly what they want in less time. Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it sure sprouts up quickly when using efficient methods to install green roofs.


Trending Toward the Green

Chicago became one of the first American cities to experiment with green roof technology, and other cities have begun emulating it after witnessing its success. In 2000, Chicago’s City Hall exchanged its tar roof for a green one. It began as a demonstration project for the city’s Urban Heat Island Initiative.

Through the initiative, scientists have helped monitor differences experienced through the change, and one major difference was confirmed early on. At 1:45 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2001, the ambient temperature was in the 90s. When rooftop temperatures were checked, scientists found there was at least a 50-degree difference between the new roof and a tar roof. Based on this, the city anticipated saving $3,600 per year on energy costs through an estimated annual reduction of 9,272 kilowatt hours and 7,372 therms of natural gas.

After calculating the success of this project, the city now requires that new buildings receiving city financing have green rooftops. It also offers grants to retrofit green roofs on existing buildings. Seattle followed suit, requiring 30 percent plant coverage on commercial developments in certain zones, and even more recently, New York City passed legislation offering a significant tax credit to buildings adding green roofs. If a building owner covers at least 50 percent of the structure with greenery, there will be a full year property tax credit of up to $100,000.


Moving From Arduous To Efficient

When considering this type of application, an engineer must first determine if a building’s structure can accommodate the weight of being retrofitted with a green roof. For new buildings architects must work the concept into the plans. Contractors choose the material and vegetation based on the customer’s needs and location, and after installing the initial waterproofing and drainage layers, they prepare and apply growing media to the roof. Later, the contractor and landscapers may return to plant vegetation.

Of these jobs, the greatest advances have been made in the process of applying the growing media. Often contractors use a crane to hoist material to the roof, where a crew of workers use wheelbarrows to haul, dump and spread it, making it as even as possible to ready it for plantings. Some roof designs are complicated, and often impossible, with this method. Let’s say the project requires going up six stories, across the roof, and then down two stories into a courtyard. This design is inaccessible by crane, which leaves installers to haul the material up through an elevator and spread it by hand. By this stage of the building’s construction, transporting green roof materials through a nearly finished interior is not typically a welcome task and can actually damage the building. Even without the risk, the time involved makes the job especially prohibitive.

But there’s another faster, easier way that takes fewer personnel than traditional methods. Furthermore, it spreads material more evenly and can even handle the above courtyard scenario without giving pause. Of course, this all means it costs less, too.

In this method pneumatic blower trucks park on the ground level and deliver materials to a building’s roof through a blower hose. A single crew simply drives the truck to the building, pulls the hose up to the rooftop and applies the material — aggregates, mulches, compost or any variety of soil blends for rooftop gardens — by blowing it smoothly and evenly across the desired location. Grid setups for pathways are no problem with the blower hose, either. Depending on the truck specifications, the material and the project conditions, the product can be delivered straight up 150 feet or more.

With a focus on the environment and conservation, along with greater knowledge of the long-term financial benefits, it’s no doubt that green roof contractors, installers and architects will see greater demand in coming years. And that pace will only increase as more cities require green rooftop space. Fortunately, material installation methods are advancing alongside the green revolution, making a positive impact not only on the environment, but especially on an operator’s bottom line.

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