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The need to take occupant behaviour into account for energy savings

The New Buildings Institute and Ecotope, Inc. recently found that poor operations and maintenance practices can increase the projected energy use by more than 50% in some climates. Though the maintenance operations were classified as poor, they were by no means atypical. Most interestingly, these researchers also found that occupant behaviour can increase the predicted energy use of a building by 80%.

While it has been long known that actual energy performance often differs from predicted energy performance of buildings, this data shows just how much difference can result from occupant behaviour and maintenance.

For more information on this research visit GreenSource’s latest issue.

Green Buildings
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GSA Study shows green buildings save money

A recent Government Services Administration Study, in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, on 22 federal buildings found that green buildings use 25% less energy and 11% less water than standard federal buildings. They also found that occupants were 27% more satisfied in the green building. For more information see Inhabitat’s article here. For a link to the GSA click here.

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Creative Urban Agriculture on NYC rooftops

The rooftop of the Metro Baptist Church in Hell’s Kitchen has just celebrated it’s first harvest of fruits and vegetables, using kiddie pools as an innovative means to pursue urban agriculture in New York City.

For more information check out Inhabitat New York City’s article.

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Greenbuild 2011 Toronto includes health and green building research

Over 23,000 people attended Greenbuild this year in Toronto, the first time the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference and tradeshow took place outside of the US. After long discussions with the USGBC, this year also marked the first time there was a dedicated research track that included research and talks on the link between green buildings and health. With Whitney Grey PhD and Judith Heerwagen PhD, I presented new research on green roofs, health, well-being, and concentration. For those that missed the conference, click here to find out about obtaining the proceedings and viewing the program.

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Grow West Green Roof Symposium, June 16th, Denver Colorado

Recently I was invited to speak with four other leading green roof practitioners and researchers at Grow West’s annual Green Roof Symposium. The symposium is a great place to hear leading green roof experts and interact with researchers, practitioners, and industry. Other speakers included:

Dusty Gedge, President, European Federation of Green Roof Associations

Paul Kephart, Rana Creek

Mark Simmons, Director Research and Consulting of the LadyBird Johnson Wildflower Center

Manfred Kohler, President, World Green Infrastructure Network, Professor at Hochschule Neubrandenburg, Lehre und Forschung at Hochschule Neubrandenburg.

For more information on the symposium click here. For more information about Grow West click here.

Photo credit: Karla Dakin
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Cities Alive Green Roof Conference

Vancouver Convention Centre green roof

The Cities Alive conference in Vancouver this past December was a huge success. At this conference I presented some findings from my research on health and green buildings, namely the impact of visual access to green roofs and concentration. The paper forms part of the proceedings and will be available here. The website for the conference is here.

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Green Roofs and Agriculture

There has been increasing discussion in some cities about the possibilities for urban agriculture on green roofs. Toronto, Vancouver, New York and Chicago all have food-producing green roofs, and London is starting two pilot projects.  You can find out more about these roofs here.

Productive restaurant rooftop in Chicago- Uncommon Ground
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Green roofs and mental health

Our Green Home recently published a short article in which I discuss some of the results of my doctoral research on the relationship between green roofs and mental health. The article also discussed some aesthetic considerations for those considering green roof design and mental health. For the article click here.

 

 

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Research on perceptions of green roofs increasing

There is increasing interest in understanding people’s perceptions and awareness of green roofs as the social-psychological benefits are beginning to be explored. Here are some recent articles on perceptions of green roofs for those interested in learning more.

Calkins, M. (2005) Strategy use and challenges of ecological design in landscape architecture. Landscape and Urban Planning, 73, 29-48.

Eisenman, T. (2004) Chicago’s Green Crown. Landscape Architecture, 93, 106-113.

Kuper, R. (2009) What’s up? Examining the awareness of green roofs in suburbia. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 64, 145A-149A.

Lee, H. & H. Koshimiz. 2004. Research on the scenic meaning of rooftop greening with semantic differential measure and join-count statistics. In Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, 1-12. Boston: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.

Smith, C. & M. Boyer (2007) Who wants to live with a living roof? . Green Places, October, 24-27.

White, E. 2008. Greenery on Residential Buildings: Its ability to increase preference, beauty, restoration, and positive affective quality In Psychology, 118. Surrey: University of Surrey.

Wong, N. H., S. J. Wong, G. T. Lim, C. L. Ong & A. Sia (2005) Perception study of building professionals on the issues of green roof development in Singapore. Architectural Science Review, 48, 205-214.

Yuen, B. & W. N. Hien (2005) Resident perceptions and expectations of rooftop gardens in Singapore. Landscape and Urban Planning, 73, 263-276.

Other researchers interested in this topic include Kate Lee, from the University of Melbourne.