January 10, 2008
The Reeves Center Has Gone Green
One of the highlights of this Post article about the District's efforts to be more green is the news that the Reeves Center at 14th and U Streets NW has covered its roof with trays filled with plants that filter air and absorb rainwater.
One Judiciary Square has also received a new "greenroof" installed by DC Greenworks, an interesting local non-profit that provides full-service greenroof design, installation, and consulting. These roofs help to insulate buildings, protect roofs from UV rays and most importantly here in D.C., slow down the flow of storm water into area rivers. Sewage water draining into the Potomac and Anacostia is the main source of pollution in our rivers.
Image from the D.C. Office Of Property Management
|
Advertisement: DCist Continues Below!
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Chicago has been doing this for a long time--it works on high rises as well.
What are the benefits of this?
Green roofs provide insulation, reduce energy consumption, extend the life of the roof, absorb and filter rain runoff, improve community relations, reduce a building's thermal signature and reduce the likelihood that it will be a target of terrorism, and improve your sex life.
Just kidding. There's no proof they improve community relations.
If a green roof causes an erection lasting longer than four hours, please contact your doctor.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15223547/
http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=21
Thanks everyone. I got to get me some of that green stuff then. A green roof and improved sex life...who could be against that?
My worry is that in the case of the DC government installing a green roof, they will neglect to maintain it, mow or prune it, and it will grow into an untamed mass of weed trees with windblown CVS bags stuck in them. I'm picturing feral cat colonies and huge flocks of birds living up there, with guano encrusting the surrounding neighborhood. Or, maybe they won't water it during a drought, all the plants will die, and they'll end up with a brown roof. Let's hope DC Greenworks is in charge of upkeep, and not the District.
I hope the Reeves Center decides to grow corn up there so that I too after a freak mutant virus gone wild can stare out into the bleak pretty landscape while harvesting corn. But like MrT says, I will probably be SOL with the greenness off the roof and just get ate up by those gentrfiers gone wild and mutant.
I'm pretty sure green roofs need to be retrofitted to actually handle the extra weight of all that soil and greenery. Getting all the right permits to put a green roof on your home in DC involves jumping through a lot of zoning and licensing loopholes. But, hey, when you the gummint, I guess you don't need to deal with laws involving construction permits, metal fatigue tolerances, or even gravity.
Criswell predicts that, come the first major snowfall and freeze, the Reeves Center gets a series of green skylights. The hard way.
I can't wait for the inevitable lawsuits and workers comp claims from DC employees in the Reeves Center, saying the plants are making them sick.