Green Roof Cost Savings

Green roof temperatures can be 30 40 f lower than those of conventional roofs and can reduce city wide ambient temperatures by up to 5 f.

Green roof cost savings.

1 2 in addition green roofs can reduce building energy use by 0 7 compared to conventional roofs reducing peak electricity demand and leading to an annual savings of 0 23 per square foot of the roof. Over its lifetime though the green roof would save about 200 000. There is only one difference. It was concluded that although initial costs were high the energy and cost savings made over the building lifetime meant that the green roof was an environmentally preferable choice.

The general services administration gsa says yes. Cost comparison is the most common method for assessing the economic impacts of green infrastructure. The breathable layer growing media on a green roof is also the basis for the well being of the plants and must be able to store water and air at the same time for a healthy growth. Showed that on average the representative buildings chosen from gsa s portfolio regularly outperformed national averages of building performance data.

The two basic approaches to cost analysis address. Shading the outer surface of the building envelope has been shown to be more effective than internal insulation. In summer the green roof protects the building from direct solar heat. Life cycle costs including planning design installation operation and maintenance and replacement.

For instance the additional cost of installing a green roof was accounted for in year one but was followed by years of energy savings as a result of this installation. This is a more favorable outcome toward the green roof than found by carter and keeler and highlights that the outcome of the life cycle assessment of a green. Does a green building cost less to create and maintain than a conventional building. This analysis thus gives a financial overview of a green roof as an investment and allows this investment to be compared to similar building level investments.

An in depth study of 22 green federal buildings across the u s. Calculating the average cost of green roofs can be difficult because there a number of variables not just the size and accessibility of the site but the types of plants that are going to be grown on it a large scale green roof on top of an exclusive london high rise might cost hundreds of thousands whereas the small garden you have on your garage may have cost. Green roofs reduce the heat flux through the roof and less energy for cooling or heating can lead to significant cost savings. Increased r value a measure of the resistance of a material to heat flow of the roofing system along with reduced temperatures on the roof lessen hvac loads resulting in energy cost savings.

The university found that the green roof would cost 464 000 to install versus 335 000 for a conventional roof in 2006 dollars. Only initial construction costs.