How Do Green Roofs Provide Insulation

The combination of soil plants and trapped layers of air within green roof systems can act as a noise insulation barrier.

How do green roofs provide insulation.

The greater insulation offered by green roofs can reduce the amount of energy needed to moderate the temperature of a building as roofs are the site of the greatest heat loss in the winter and the hottest temperatures in the summer. When it comes to roofing green roofs are without doubt one of the more visible signals that you have built a sustainable home. Sound waves are both absorbed reflected or deflected. Cotton is a natural and renewable resource which makes the plant one of the greenest insulation products on the planet.

A green roof s plants remove air particulates produce oxygen and provide shade. The combination of substrate plants and the embedded air in the green roof system provide good sound insulation. For one thing it can be rolled into batts. The substrate blocks the lower frequencies while the plants absorb the higher frequencies.

Whilst the growing medium tends to block lower sound frequencies the plants tend to block higher frequencies. Unlike traditional black tar roofs green roofs reduce energy costs by absorbing heat instead of attracting it and providing natural insulation for buildings. Green roofs provide innumerous benefits including shading by foliage retarding heat transfer by advection transfer of heat or matter by the flow of a fluid providing thermal mass effect prompting evapotranspiration increasing stormwater retention and protecting waterproof roofing assemblies. In addition to thermal insulation a green roof also has a sound insulating effect.

There is a lot of cynicism that they don t actually serve enough eco purpose to be worthwhile but they do have some genuine benefits. Cotton insulation is similar to fiberglass insulation in several ways. This is known as the albedo effect and many studies have documented significant energy savings from simply lightening the color of a roof. However a green roof does not provide additional insulation.

They use heat energy during evapotranspiration a natural process that cools the air as water evaporates from plant leaves. Sound waves are absorbed and reflected. They absorb heat from the sun they absorb co2. 1 cool your roof cool roofs are lighter in color than traditional black asphalt or dark wood shingles and save energy by reflecting light and heat away rather than absorbing them.

According to a study conducted by the national research council of canada even a six inch extensive green roof can reduce summer energy demands by more than 75 percent.