No Greenroof for you!
Can't say I didn't try. Knowing that it would be the most expensive part of my planned rehab, I wanted it anyway. But the headache of trying to find someone to do it and an email from someone else who also investigated the possibility, seem to point to one conclusion, no green roof for me.My house is too old, too small, and too structurally screwed up. Yes, I did contact DC Greenworks. That's where the too old part comes in. My roof is not green roof ready and they had no guidance for me. I contacted another resident, Emily, and she was told by a green design company that for small flat roof homes a green roof wasn't worth it.
Well, that was depressing.
Anyone got any ideas? I guess I will investigate how to make the house more energy efficient with better windows and toilets and appliances. And maybe see if I can make 1/2 of the roof a rooftop garden.
Anyway back to the drawing board.
Update: Welcome Express Readers. Thanks Jimbo for the heads up. And no, I will not be having any prairie chickens on my roof.
posted by Mari @ 2.8.06
11 Comments:
WWW.GREENROOFBLOCKS.COM
Your entire roof might not be covered bt you might be able to get a few.
Someone on the Petworth blog mentioned putting solar panels on their roof. Apparently they received a grant from DC's Renewable Energy Office and a federal tax credit, covering all but $12K of the $26K cost. They expect it to supply 2/3 - 3/4 of their annual electricity. We're planning on doing the same when we build up.
We've had great luck growing on our third floor. We're growing in pots, though. We ran a water line from the hose in the backyard to the front of the house.
The plants get a ton more sun than those in our yard. Alas, the squirrels can get up there, too.
www.dsireusa.org This is a database of other people's money you can get for alternative power solutions for your home. Click on DC. The last award for solar residential was for March solicitations and came out in April. Solicitations may be entertained again this year. Go for a solution that covers alot of your roof.
Also, there is a federal tax credit available to defray cost.
I'm looking into this program myself as a DIY project. the REDP project in DC covers up to 50% of the cost of the system, including net metering, that is, selling energy back in to the DC grid.
http://dceo.dc.gov/dceo/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=603165&dceoNav=%7C32970%7C
I gave solar panels a quick look once. The thing I wonder about is aesthetics and second, I don't use that much power. My electric bill in the height of summer is less than $100 and I think the lowest is round $20. So with the price of installation and the needed research and hand holding (this is new territory for me) it just didn't seem like it would pay off.
There are several green and environmentally friendly ideas out there, but I haven't researched them all to determine if they are feasible and worth the risk, cost and headache (all building projects at some point have an asprin factor).
I don't look forward to scrapping my renovation plan and having to research stuff all over. This just delays things.
Trux- believe me if I could raise chickens in the city, I would. But I can't, so no farm animals for me, either.
Yuo can get an entire solar system on ebay made by high-end well-known manufacturers like Siemens for around $6,000. I dont know what the labor is to install that but with the tax credit that makes the materials $4,000.
You need a sod roof. With prairie flowers on it:
http://www.cbhassociates.com/projects/archive/sustainable/wmdv/index.htm
Then we will get you prairie chickens, which will wake up at 4am and make booming noises across Shaw.
You may also want to look at tankless water heaters, either gas or electric, which can produce big savings.
another easy way to do a "green" roof is to install a White Polymer roof if you currently have a rubber roof. It may not do wonders for your house in terms of energy savings, but it greatly helps reduce what they call Urban Heat Sink, by helping reflect heat away from the ground instead of absorbing it with your typical black rubber roof.
~C
I was told the same thing about green roofs and rowhouses a couple of years back.
We have a heavy furnace-A/C "package unit" on our roof, and although the roof itself isn't strong enough to support it, it safely rests on two steel I-beams which in turn rest (just at their ends) on our side walls. Maybe you could suspend a partial green roof by the same method? Not sure what material you'd use underneath the soil--you don't want the bottom rotting or rusting or just giving way and dumping all the dirt on your roof.
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