Roof gardens are built for both their aesthetic and their functional values. A roof garden can provide temperature control, architectural enhancement, hydrological benefits, and of course food. It can also serve as a habitat for wildlife. There are a number of advantages when you plant a roof garden. It can cool the room below it, especially during a hot day. During winter, it provides insulation against the cold. In Germany, roof gardens are required to retain water from evaporating. It will prevent flash floods from occurring. There are three basic types of roof garden. They differ according to the maintenance they require, the type of plants the roof will support and the depth of the soil. The three types of roof gardens are:

Extensive Roof Garden

This is the easiest type of roof garden to maintain because it uses shallow soil. Extensive roof gardens are lightweight, and ideal for the roofs on garages, sheds, and other small extensions of the home. Although it’s easy to maintain this type of roof garden, it has the least aesthetic value, and the number of plants that can grow on it is quite limited. Examples of plants you can grow in an extensive roof garden are lichens and mosses. Lichens are symbiotic organisms that can colonize on surfaces such as glass, metal and plastic. Mosses are small green plants that do not require large quantities of nutrients for survival. They cling on stone and walls and, can live off of rainwater alone.

Semi-extensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden has deeper soil, and can support a larger variety of plants. It can therefore be decorated more easily than the extensive roof garden. The soil is heavier in a semi-extensive roof garden, and requires a stronger structure in order to support it. One could plant sedums in this type of garden. These are succulents that can store water in their tissues. That means you won’t need to go out and water them every day – but during times of drought, they could die and turn patchy if not properly cared for. On a semi-extensive roof garden, you can also plant wildflowers that can grow without any maintenance.

Intensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden can support trees and elaborate arrangements. Intensive roof gardens require large, strong structures to support them. Most homes are not suitable for this type of roof garden, but they can be found on concrete buildings and on top of roof decks. There’s no limit to what you can plant in an intensive roof garden, so long as the structure of the building can support the weight.

Vegetation Blankets

Another interesting option for green roofing is the use of Vegetation Blankets. For more information, see Vegetation for Roof and Ground Covering. Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wengs/ / CC BY 2.0

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Establishing and utilizing a home greenhouse is an excellent way to save money on groceries, follow a healthier and more nutritious diet, conserve on energy, and help the environment at the same time. But greenhouses don’t grow on trees – they have to be built. Not all of us have a professional builder in the family, or the budget to hire a specialist.

This is where greenhouse kits come in handy. If you aren’t looking for elaborate design but you need a basic and simple greenhouse for home use, this is a great way to get started without a large investment of time or money.

Greenhouse kits vary widely in cost and design. A very simple and economical variety can be found for under $40.00 or $50.00. This small greenhouse might consist of nothing more than a 2 foot square fabric tent where you can house a few plants and extend their growing season.

In this price-range, you can also find a basic enclosure system for a greenhouse, which will provide the framework and support that can then be covered in the material of your choice.

Moving up the line, you can find a more serious set-up for anywhere between $400 and $900, which includes either fabric or glass walls, and provides enough space to grow a full set of vegetables or other plants. Larger greenhouses, from 10 to 20 square feet in size, cost a few thousand dollars. But this might still be far simpler than building the entire structure on your own.

Once you’ve found and purchased the greenhouse kit that’s right for you, you will need to assemble it yourself, just as you would with any other kit. But you will have step-by-step instructions and all the parts you need, cut and sized to fit, and tested by the manufacturers.

While setting up a greenhouse requires an investment of time and money, you should be able to recoup your investment over time, providing that you actually use your greenhouse. The amount of money that can be saved by growing one’s own food is easy to underestimate – particularly where large families are concerned.

Growing food inside a greenhouse is extroverting, fun, and educational. It can make it possible for you to grow foods at all times of year, instead of being limited to certain seasons.  It can be very frustrating to go out and buy gardening equipment and seeds, only to get so busy with work that by the time you are ready to work on your garden, it is too late in the year.

A greenhouse can give you the extra leeway you need, and make it possible to have fresh home-grown vegetables year-round. It might also make it possible for you to grow the plants which normally wouldn’t grow in your region at all. Such as – who knows, habaneros in Montana?

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Hemp is the all-purpose material long-championed by Thomas Jefferson and 1960s American counterculture alike.  Food, textiles, paper, and fuel—there is a growing trend to cultivate this miracle crop and turn it into more eco-friendly versions of common products.  Why is it so sustainable?  Hemp can be grown rapidly and easily, like bamboo, without any herbicides or intensive labor. It regenerates, it regrows.

So how on earth can we utilize the plant for home construction?  A handful of companies are now specializing in building walls, floors, and other structural components of houses out of chopped up hemp (it looks like mulch) combined with lime.  Like the soybean insulation, the mixture of hemp and lime is sprayed on to a plywood base.  It is easy and incredibly durable.  A thick earthen wall made of hemp is also great for heat insulation.

Europe is ahead of the hemp game, with a growing industry in this type of eco-building, especially in Ireland and the UK.  There is reason to believe that the U.S. will be catching on very soon.   Perhaps some U.S. representatives will be attending the 1st International Hemp Building Symposium in September, taking place in Kenmare, Ireland.

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Proper landscaping is as important to energy and water efficiency in a home as anything else.  And eco-friendly mulch is the easiest way to keep that landscape healthy. Using mulch in flower beds, around sidewalks, and around trees is great for controlling erosion, keeping in the moisture, and making your plants look fabulous.

These days shredded tires, peanut shells, and pine bark and other recycled materials are all being used for sustainable landscaping projects instead of the traditional composition.  Of course, your environmental footprint will most likely be greater in the long run if you have to buy an eco-friendly mulch that’s been shipped halfway around the world, but there are easy ways to create mulch with your own recycled materials.

Old newspapers make great mulch. Just shred them into small strips and spread the strips around your flower bed.  Due to their tendency to clump when wet, however, its often recommended to apply them as a bottom layer, and then add different mulch on top.   They will biodegrade over time and add nutrients to the soil.

Peanut shells, if you have enough of them, also work.  They make a great mulch due to their chemical composition.  You can mix them with leaves or compost to make a nice-looking finish.  However, according to gardeners, they’re not good food for worms and therefore the natural nutrient cycling is not as effective.  What’s more, there is often a risk of mold accumulation with peanut shells that can spread to your plants and harm them.  Therefore, nut shells are not necessarily the best bet for your mulch, but they definitely work.

What about recycled rubber? Old tires are filling up landfills across the US—what better way to give them new purpose than to add them to your home’s landscaping?  You can buy preshredded rubber at your nearest garden center or you can make it yourself.  It is insect-resistant and aesthetically appealing.  Rubber mulch applications are particularly common on playgrounds, but they are just as good for your sophisticated landscape bedding.

Pine bark and pine needles are the best tree materials for mulch. They have a high moisture retaining capacity and keep away insects.  The substances’ high acidity contributes well to plants that require increased acid in the soil.   Pine bark also retains its color longer than most other tree barks, meaning that it needs to be replaced less often.

While pine makes a great mulch, other tree products that have the same characteristics might be slightly more sustainable.  Eucalyptis, for example, grows rapidly like bamboo and is highly abundant, allowing it to be harvested and regenerated in a more predictable manner than pine.  But remember, it is usually more sustainable and simple to use whatever product grows nearest you.

Unfortunately, however, mulch can never beat the advantages of the compost pile. You can create a compost bin with food waste and yard clippings, then spread it throughout your flower beds.  This is by far the most nutrient-enhancing mulch option for plants.

When in doubt, you can mix together most organic substances to create a fine looking and eco-friendly mulch.

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Termites build elaborate and highly effective ventilation devices.  Swarms of bees communicate without centralized control.  Nature works harmoniously all on its own, so why not let it be the primary inspiration for technological design?

This concept is the foundation of biomimicry, the science of using nature as the basis for technological design.  AskNature, a project of  The Biomimicry Institute, provides fascinating examples of real-world technology inspired by nature.
The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, was inspired by the efficient cooling methods of termite mounds.  This shopping center and office building is passively cooled through thermal mass and ventilation.  The structure requires no fuel-based air conditioning, saving building owners $3.5 million in equipment costs alone.  Mimicking termites’ efficient use of air shafts and thermal mass to maintain a consistent internal temperature, the Eastgate Centre uses 35% of the energy of similar buildings.

Blue mussels have taught scientists how to make a formaldehyde-free adhesive.  In order to attach securely to rocks in rough water, blue mussels produce a sticky protein.  By observing the mussel, scientists have produced technology that uses soy protein to mimic this underwater adhesive.    Columbia Forest Products now uses this nontoxic adhesive in plywood.  This is a major step forward for indoor air quality, as formaldehyde offgassing contributes significantly to the toxin load in homes.

The Biolytics water filter takes its cue from the way microorganisms work together to break down matter in soil.  The Biolytics system treats raw sewage, wastewater, and food waste, with the end product of water suitable for irrigation.  Solid waste is removed and composted into humus, which then acts as a filter for the water.  The Biolytics system uses 90% less energy than other waste treatment methods with no harmful byproducts.

Swarm insects such as ants and bees thrive because they are flexible, resilient, and neither centrally controlled nor locally supervised.  Researchers have observed that the third attribute, self-organization, is the basis for the first two.  EnviroGrid controllers from REGEN are based on swarm logic technology.  The EnviroGrid system connects machinery in a wireless network to promote most efficient electric use, saving businesses 5-10% on their electric costs each year.

Dye solar cell technology was inspired by the process of photosynthesis.  This new-generation solar technology replicates photosynthesis in each cell with an electrolyte, a layer of titania, and ruthenium dye.  When light hits the dye, the titania absorbs electrons, generating an electric current.  Dyesol, a new company dedicated to this technology, opened its pilot production facility in Seong Nam, South Korea, on July 13.

Thunniform swimming fish teach us how to harness power from the ocean. The bioStream tidal power system mimics the movements of tuna, sharks, and mackerel, who swim long distances with efficient and powerful propulsion.  The bioStream system is designed to deliver utility-scale renewable energy out of sight beneath the surface of the ocean.  BioStream is currently being tested by Hydro Tasmania in Australia.
What’s next?  The land snail’s ability to produce a membrane blocking evaporation can help manage water supplies in the desert.  Studying the flexible, strong scales of the pangolin might lead to more resilient (and therefore less wasteful) roofing materials.  The bull kelp’s suction cups could provide solutions for better load-bearing capabilities and less resource use in construction.  There are many nature-based innovations yet to come.

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Imagine a self-sustaining dwelling that seems to have a life of its own—sheltering its inhabitants, providing food, supplying energy needs, and transforming waste. Are you in love yet? An Earthship is much more than a home; it’s an integration of harmonious systems akin to those in the human body.

Made largely of natural and recycled materials, Earthships have been more than forty years in the making. According to their creator Michael Reynolds, they can be built in any climate.

The need for heating and cooling in an Earthship is drastically reduced (or even eliminated) by the earth-bermed, passive solar design. The north side of a traditional earthship is constructed of stacked earth-filled tires, which are then earth-bermed. This significant amount of thermal mass keeps the interior temperature relatively stable. The tires are stacked in U shapes, each forming a room. Interior walls can also be constructed out of recycled material—cans in cement. The front of an Earthship is comprised of greenhouse windows with planters immediately inside. Planters serve a triple purpose—their vegetation cleanses the air; they provide growing space for food; and they serve as a greywater treatment system.

An Earthship’s roof is designed to collect water which is then channeled to a cistern. Once filtered, it is used four times:

1. For regular household use, excluding the toilet.
2. Passes through the interior botanical cells (planters).
3. Flushes the toilet.
4. Passes through to exterior botanical cells (outside plantings).

The exterior botanical cells are contained and work in concert with a conventional septic tank to satisfy many code requirements.

Part of the appeal of Earthships is that they can be owner-built. Although the process of filling and stacking tires is undeniably labor-intensive, it is relatively straightforward and does not require years of experience.

As with any basic housing design, an Earthship can be as sustainable as ingenuity and budget allow. Some homeowners are connected to the grid and have traditional drywall instead of can walls, while others stay more faithful to the original design.

This enthusiastic overview barely scratches the surface of all things Earthship. Ready to get your hands dirty? To learn more, visit http://www.earthship.net.

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July 5th Ruminations:

Parades, picnics, fireworks, add family and friends—seems like a perfect 4^th of July.  As I watched and experienced all the events yesterday, I wondered what we could have done differently.

The small town parade was exactly what it should have been:  fire engines blaring their horns, wildly decorated motorcycles and go-carts spewing exhaust as they weaved along the parade path, cleverly decorated floats with their riders tossing candy, and horses and horses and horses…  When it was over, there were piles of garbage everywhere.  Same for the picnics; good food, good conversations, and lots of trash.

Now the fireworks were enchanting and all the kids thought they were just great.  And they were.  I couldn’t help but wonder how much junk they were putting into the air.  I sure could smell it.  I wonder how debris is actually being generated and falling to the ground.  If it were daylight when the firework displays were lit, I’ll bet we’d be more disgusted because we’d see it.  Besides, I don’t know about you, but with every “bomb bursting in air” and with each “ooohhh and aaahhh” there is some meter or calculator in my head adding up how much each one of those things must cost.

Now I’m feeling like the Grinch who stole the 4^th of July.  But I feel like I owe it to my country (how’s that for patriotic) to stop and analyze what we do and see if there isn’t some way to have a great time, but do it in a more environmental friendly way.  We’ve been doing the same traditional things forever.  Is there a better way?  Gotta be.  There has to be a way to have equal amounts of enjoyment and fun with friends, family and community without so much damage.  Send me your ideas and I’ll be working on my own.  Check back next 4^th.

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