Rooftop Gardens

Chicago has tapped into the US EPA's Urban Heat Island Pilot Project. But greening isn't cheap.

1 minute read

December 19, 2000, 1:00 PM PST

"Chicago, it seems, has tapped into the Urban Heat Island Pilot Project, a push by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to curb rising temperatures in pavement-dominated downtowns. Those areas have been found to be 10 degrees higher than surrounding rural areas, largely because dark-colored roofing and asphalt soak up sunlight. Roof gardens, on the other hand, can reduce building temperatures and save on air conditioning; absorb pollutants such as carbon dioxide (one of the gases implicated in global warming); and filter and reduce storm-water runoff."

Thanks to Design Architecture

FULL STORY: Rooftop gardens are green in more ways than one

Sunday, December 17, 2000 in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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