Contact: Sue Nichols, University Relations, (517) 353-8942, nichols@msu.edu

5/19/2004

For video on the green roof installation, see the special report at http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/greenroof/

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Ground zero in the latest movement to lighten up the environmental assault of urban development is rather lofty.

It’s on the roof.

Friday, Michigan State University is going green – installing a vegetative green roof on a portion of the Plant and Soil Sciences building. They’ll be hauling 200-pound rolls of sedum to lay them on specially developed materials that will grow into a living flowering carpet.

Best of all, not only does it require less maintenance than shingles or asphalt sealant, it also doesn’t need to be mowed or weeded.

The green portion of the roof will be about 3,500 square feet, with the rest left covered with conventional materials for research purposes.

A roof that looks like a field isn’t the horticulture department run amok. Rather, it’s an environmental milestone that offers urban areas an attractive way to:

• reduce airborne pollution;
• reduce storm water runoff by greater than 60 percent, a major problem in dense urban areas;
• moderate temperatures for both the building that sports the roof and those around it – reducing the so-called urban heat island effect;
• reduce noise; and
• increase roof durability and longevity

“Green roofs look great, but if this were just purely aesthetic, it wouldn’t fly,” said Clayton Rugh, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences. “These additional benefits will recoup their cost and pay for themselves.”

MSU is eager for more data. In 2000, MSU advised Ford Motor Co. on installing a 10.6 acre green roof – the world’s largest - on a new assembly plant in Dearborn, which is being closely monitored.

The new roof planting at MSU – on the southern two-story section of the building over the horticulture preparation area and Sparty Floral shop – will be an effective on-campus lab, visible from the main building.

Friday, workers will install a 2-inch layered base that drains water, holds roots in check and provides a growing medium that nourishes the sedum without conventional soil. The system doesn’t wash away or create dust and is comparatively light weight.

The plants do the rest. Brad Rowe, associate professor of horticulture, said these mixed varieties of sedum are climate warriors – enduring extreme heat and cold, as well as surviving more than 88 days without watering. Its hardiness and ability to grow in the minimalist root system makes it triumph over weeds.

Green roofs are a concept embraced for years in Germany, where some 12 percent of flat roofs are green. Xeroflor America LLC, the company that donated a portion of the supplies for the MSU project, is a Lansing-based green roof provider founded by the German developer of the Ford system.

Rugh said that because existing American flat roofs must be modified to convert to green, the concept is still new. While green roofs are initially more expensive, over time energy savings, storm water runoff reduction and other benefits make it cost effective.

MSU’s Office of the Vice President of Operations is funding the project. Terry Link, director of the MSU Office of Campus Sustainability, said that studies here can help determine if these approaches can save money, not to mention give more aesthetically pleasing vistas when looking down from above

“MSU needs to be investigating and finding solutions to our looming global climate change crisis,” Link said. “Green roofs hold a number of intriguing possibilities, including absorbing carbon, reducing heat island effects and adding insulating effects to buildings.”

For more information on green roofs, see www.hrt.msu.edu/greenroof/

[Note to media: The green roof installation has good visual possibilities.Contact Sue Nichols at 353-8942 to arrange.]