He is correct that a green roof can cost $25-35/sq.ft. I have even seen really large jobs cost less. There [...]]]>

I was bidding on a green roof in lower Manhattan the other day and the architect threw out a price of $25-$35 per square foot as a typical price to install a green roof.

He is correct that a green roof can cost $25-35/sq.ft. I have even seen really large jobs cost less. There are always exceptions.

But that green roof usually has certain qualities:

It is a shallow green roof of 3-4″
It is a large green roof with economy of scale
It does not contain construction elements like a box frame
It contains plugs or cuttings that take a year or two to spread
Roof access is easy (elevator or for large roofs, crane)
Street Access is easy (easy parking, lots of unloading space and time)

However, that square foot price jumps when the following are added:
Soil depth (more soil to ship and get to the roof and the plants tend to be larger and thus costlier)
Smaller roofs – base costs remain the same regardless of roof size
Construction elements like boxes, seats …
Pregrown mats or trays (you are paying somebody else to grow them plus the proprietary trays come at a premium)
Difficult access (like a recently finished and clean private home, narrow streets, no parking)

Essentially a green roof price starts at $25 if you have the most basic large size green roof, easy access and find somebody willing to cut prices.

But I have seen green roofs as expensive as $500 a square foot. If you have a 100 square foot green roof in a fancy apartment building in Manhattan your life is going to be really difficult. Parking tickets are the least of it. Difficult doormen, building rules, and unwelcoming neighbors are all part of the mix that drive prices up.

Throw in a fancy pregrown tray system, some custom made edging and a top of the line irrigation system because they want it to appear lush year round, and you have a green roof that costs more than a a farm in Indiana. But boy is the green roof beautiful! There is something about a green roof on the new York concrete jungle that really can’t be beat.

New York as envisioned by a NY Green Roof Installer

Showing how the design of successful green-roof systems mimics earth’s natural [...]]]>

Here is a great graphic showing how green roof construction mimics in a few inches what normal soil does in a couple feet. Plants want water, but not too much. They want something to dig their roots into that also provides nourishment.

Showing how the design of successful green-roof systems mimics earth’s natural soil layers

Green roofs have to provide this but because it is a roof you can’t have tonnes of soil up there. So much soil would be very expensive to install and support.

Normal soil is deep so it holds lots of humidity for the plant to drink from. But because it is deep the excess water drains down. This way the plants get water but their roots don’t rot in standing water.

The green roof accomplishes the balance with the help of several layers. The growing medium, filter sheet and protection layer act as sponges to hold water. The drainage layer has little cups that fill up with water. This provides a lot of water in relatively little space and with very little weight.

At the same time when the drainage mat cups fill up the excess water overflows and easily passes underneath it away and down the roof drain. This means the roots don’t sit in water and rot.

The green roof medium is usually an aggregate for the roots to dig into so the plants don’t fly away, mixed with something very nutritious to feed the plants. This mix also has to be very light. The aggregate ideally holds water as well.

Some examples of aggregate are crushed brick, lava rock, shale, and shredded Styrofoam. Sometimes clay is mixed is as an added water retainer as well as binder. As nutrition compost or peat is added.

The growing medium duplicates in very little space and with little weight what normal soil does.

The end result may not be as perfect as  natural soil, and this has to be remediated by using hardy plants that are ok with severe rooftop weather conditions and poor soil. Sedum is happy hanging on the sides of a cliff in the wild, as are many grasses and other small plants, so the options for a green roof are large.

As a New York green roof installer we use a mix of North American native sedum with some grasses and even small bushes. Even though the green roofs we install are typically less the 4″ deep, they look very lush and require minimal maintenance because the green roof replicate so well the natural soil conditions of the plants.

The trick with all green building, and this includes natural landscaping, is to replicate natural phenomena so that they work with little energy input from us. A green roof is a perfect example of this.

Image © 2011 by Erich Nagler

The book is organized into eight sections:

Education

Enterprise

Water

Energy

Mobility

Food

Well-being

Play

There were plenty of great ideas that could be applied to [...]]]>

I read the book Design Revolution, 100 Products That Empower People by Emily Pilloton to see if any of the designs could apply to a New York green contractor.

The book is organized into eight sections:

Education

Enterprise

Water

Energy

Mobility

Food

Well-being

Play

There were plenty of great ideas that could be applied to a New York city home – cool solar panels/wind harvesters in the form of leaves, composting toilets that normal people would use, all sorts of bike ideas, and a food composter that looks like an espresso machine.

The most interesting thing for me was the Eco-Machine, designed by Todd Ecological, a company founded by John Todd. An Eco Machine, also known as a living machine, uses plants and microbes to filter waste water. This has direct applications for New York ecological landscaping and green construction.

A Brooklyn brownstone, instead of passing its sewer to, say, the Gowanus Canal it would pass it to a series of water gardens in the yard. These gardens would be beautifully designed to fit into the an environment used by children, adults, pets and Williamsburg hipsters.

The key is in the design of combining function and aesthetic, something a good eco-landscaper could do. The end result of the Brooklyn Brownstone living machine is a lush yard full of healthy plants and a NY sewer system that is not overloaded.

This is not unrealistic. It is very practical and possible. It is also illegal. Great ideas move faster than massive bureaucracies like the Department of Buildings and Department of Environmental Protection….

A living machine system in Florida

As an ecological landscaper who uses gray water and rain water runoff to feed the garden the idea of a living machine takes it a step further. Very exciting stuff and something I plan on implementing at an undisclosed brownstone near you.

Green building is a symbiosis of many levels that forms a harmonious whole, and architecture in older societies like [...]]]>

The book Japan Style – architecture + interiors + design, by Geeta Mehta and Kimie Tada contains lush photographs by Noboru Murata and is an inspiring insight into how traditional Japanese buildings are deeply green.

Green building is a symbiosis of many levels that forms a harmonious whole, and architecture in older societies like Japan is filled with a complex structure that covers an astounding array of natural, social and spiritual perspectives.

The book does a great job at showing these levels.

I am especially drawn to the book because the homes are on small lots in urban environments, and as a New York green contractor I know very well what it means to build green on small urban lots.

Unlike your typical New York homes, the Japanese homes in this book are expansive and deeply connected to nature. They are not expansive in size, in fact the homes are minuscule compared to US standards, rather they are expansive in style.

And this is the genius of traditional Japanese architectural design. The photographs show rooms and vistas as broad as a mansion, yet the square footage is not. This real feeling of space and airiness is achieved through intelligent placement of openings onto the garden, the use of fine building materials and a sparseness of design that was modern many centuries before Modernism became popular.

So much of Japanese traditional building echoes today’s green building ethos. The materials are all natural. The floor plans are small. Rooms are used for multiple uses. There is a deep connection between the home and the natural surroundings around it, both in terms of design and materials. The buildings follow the credos of “Less is more” and “form follows function”.

But most importantly for me the design is based on the understanding that our home is, like our body, a temple full of spiritual power. This element turns a collection of building materials into something more than rooms and walls. By being built with an understanding of the spiritual element of design, these homes not only give protection to the body but give support to the soul.

Green building is about natural materials, low embodied energy and energy efficiency. But it is a sack of bricks without the meaning behind it, which has many levels, from political, ecological, social, cultural and yes, spiritual. This meaning is something the traditional Japanese builders, with the benefit of a deep and old culture, drew from and imbued into their work.

The result is a home that nourishes on so many levels. My green contracting work in NY is a world apart from traditional Japan, but in this postmodern world where green building is both simultaneously drawing from cutting edge technology on one side and centuries old techniques on the other, there is a place for traditional Japanese building techniques on my tool belt.

A green builder, if anything, is somebody with a large tool belt.

A close-up of the green roof installed at the Mohonk Preserve Visitor’s Center in Gardiner by Aurora Landscape Design.

by Gregory Schoenfeld, April 27, 2012

When Shawn McCloskey returned home to his native Kingston in 2000, things were [...]]]>

Chrongram Magazine mentioned Eco Brooklyn in a recent article on green roofs. It is below:

A close-up of the green roof installed at the Mohonk Preserve Visitor’s Center in Gardiner by Aurora Landscape Design.

by Gregory Schoenfeld, April 27, 2012

When Shawn McCloskey returned home to his native Kingston in 2000, things were pretty much the way he had left them. After years in the Pacific Northwest, honing his craft of landscaping design, McCloskey began to build his Aurora Landscape firm in a Hudson Valley design scene that was comfortably reminiscent of the one he had grown up with.

It was a bit too comfortable for McCloskey’s taste.

“I looked around and realized that things weren’t happening around here,” recalls McCloskey. “We needed to see change, and we needed to diversify.” Seeking to incorporate the kind of sustainable advancements that are, unfortunately, often more prevalent abroad than in the United States, McCloskey found his inspiration in green roof installation. A longstanding practice in regions like Scandinavia, and for decades an increasingly popular environmental trend in many European countries, a “green roof” is exactly what it sounds like: living vegetation thriving on top of building structure, just where common sense would dictate. Continual developments in technology and application have transformed the sod-and-grass roofs of old Norwegian villages into a spectacular—and sustainable—array of choices.

Joining forces with trend-setting manufacturer LiveRoof, which offers an environmentally sound, pre-vegetated modular system, McCloskey’s work has hit the ground—or the roof—blooming. Examples of striking blends of multicolored Sedum plants, and the reduced carbon footprint they provide, can be found at places like Rhinebeck’s Omega Institute and atop the Mohonk Preserve Visitors’ Center—providing precious visibility for a movement with a seemingly unending list of benefits. Besides the obvious aesthetic improvements (when was the last time you stopped and gazed at a field of well-laid roof shingle?), green roofing begins with long-term savings, both residentially and commercially. “The best part is, the sustainability is a result of practicality,” says McCloskey. The UV protection provided by a properly installed system can triple the life expectancy of the roof itself, and the improved insulation can save 25 percent or more of heating and cooling energy usage. Living roof coverage also comprehensively helps with stormwater drainage issues, and it’s myriad associated costs. The secondary effects are equally as significant, as the process helps reduce pollution as well as damaging overheating effects, particularly in urban areas.

Slowly but surely, the United States is catching up with the global awareness of how beneficial green roofing can be, with recent legislation providing tax incentives for implementing the green technology. Practitioners like Gennaro Brooks-Church—whose Eco Brooklyn design firm does groundbreaking work in New York City, where any living space is at a premium—believes that the holistic environmental and lifestyle improvements of green building suggest a mandate for a sustainable future. “People are increasingly seeing the necessity of green roofs, especially in cities where stormwater runoff, heat island effect, pollution mitigation, local food sources and diminishing wildlife habitats are all concerns,” explains Brooks-Church. “A green roof helps solve all these issues.”

Typically a New York green roof installer will specify a selection of  sedum native to the high mountains and wild places across Europe, including the Balkan [...]]]>

Most New York green roof installers look towards Europe for green roof plant varieties. Europe has the largest green roof industry and has spent many years testing different plants.

Typically a New York green roof installer will specify a selection of  sedum native to the high mountains and wild places across Europe, including the Balkan Mountains and the Carpathians.

Sedum are a mostly succulent low laying plant that  like the bright sun and dry conditions of green roofs. Sedum can be found all over the world where rugged, well drained conditions exist.

They are often called stonecrop because they like to grow in the cracks of stones.

As a New York green contractor I too looked towards Europe for information on how to build the perfect Gotham green roof.

Eco Brooklyn is an ecological landscape designer and as such only designs and plants New York gardens with native species. The green roof has been our one exception, the original presumption being that there are not enough native plants to make an interesting green roof landscape. Or at least we didn’t know enough to try.

But as my experience and confidence expanded I started to research native species of sedum. I did a lot of testing on the Eco Brooklyn Green Show House roof. Some plants survived, others didn’t. What I learned is that the typical sedum suggestions for a shallow (extensive) New York green roof is extremely limited.

This is when we realized the opportunity to become a Green Roof Installer specializing in native plant green roofs.

For example we currently have three thriving Butterfly plants on the Eco Brooklyn Show House roof. In three inches of soil! Without watering them!

Butterfly plants on Eco Brooklyn's Show House green roof

Or how about our lambs ear, which is also a NY native. It is very happy on the Show House green roof.

Native Plant Lambs Ear is a good choice for New York green roofs

Another cool New York native is the Eastern Prickly Pear cactus, the only native cactus in northeast North America. It loves being on our roof, although you may not love it once it’s spines get into your skin. They are painful! I hear their fruit is good, although I have not braved the spines.

The Eastern Prickly Pear loves sandy dry soil, so a green roof is great for them.

And for those who don’t know, there are actually over 50 sedum native to North America. The only places in North America that do NOT have a native sedum are the far North of Canada and North Dakota! Not sure why. Even Greenland and Alaska have sedum.

Those 50 or so sedum fall into 18 genera. Here is the full North America genera list from the USDA web site:

Check out this cool map showing all sedum in the USA.

We have a nice little Sedum Glaucophyllum (aka Cliff Stonecrop) in the Show House back yard. It is very happy perched amoung some stones.

Although actually native to Maryland and Virginia we deemed it acceptable to use it in our Brooklyn native garden.

Based on our experimentation and research we feel confident enough to plant green roofs in New York with only native plants. This is groundbreaking and merges two very important ecological traditions – green roof installations and native habitat creation.

A native habitat at the top of the concrete jungle offers protection and rest for animals in a very special way distinct from the more crowded lower gardens. Native plant green roof installations are crucial in building a city that offers homes for more than rats, pigeons and people.

If you have a roof you would like to turn green or know of somebody who does please give us a call! We are New York green roof installers specializing in native plant wildlife habitats and feel the more we are able to build the better the world will be!

Here is a great video of his garden. It is worth looking at from [...]]]>

We have a guest staying in the lower apartment of the Brooklyn Green Show House. She said I should check out her friend Jerome Osentowski, which I did, who turns out to be one of North Americas foremost Permaculture experts.

Here is a great video of his garden. It is worth looking at from the perspective of what can be done in a Brooklyn or NY back yard. If layered correctly it is possible to create an abundant edible garden in the space of a NY back yard. That is the magic of Permaculture.

The Brooklyn Green Show House gardens are not geared to be very edible for humans. We have some blueberries, raspberries and pawpaw but mostly the plants are only edible to local birds and bugs.

1. What does a green roof entail? Pricing? Plant types?

Go here for a great overview of general green roof installation [...]]]>

As a New York green roof installer we get asked the same questions by clients considering installing a green roof on their condo building or brownstone. So we decided to answer them here.

1. What does a green roof entail? Pricing? Plant types?

Go here for a great overview of general green roof installation facts, although their pricing is a little out of touch with current NY prices.

2. Do you need a permit to install a green roof in New York?

You don’t need a permit for green roof installations if the depth of the growth medium and containment does not exceed 4 inches in depth. However, it is recommended that you retain the services of an architect or professional engineer to evaluate the particular conditions and capacity of your existing roof.

3. What tax credits are there?

You can receive a one year tax credit of up to $100,000 ($4.50 per sq/ft) for green roof installations that encompass at least 50% of available roof space. This law is effective until March 15, 2013, at which point we hope to reinstate it and make it easier to process (the current law requires a lot of paperwork and is a pain in the butt). To get the rebate you need to file for a permit to the Department of Buildings, which means you need an Engineer or Architect. If the architect and expediting fees exceed the tax credit then it may not be worth applying for the credit. Go here for more info about tax credit.

The Eco Brooklyn Green Show House has a green roof. It is a good example of a brownstone green roof installation.