Faculty Advisors
- Margaret Reese
- Elizabeth Malcolm
- Maynard Schaus
Funding
Funded by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's P3 Award: A Student Design Competition for Sustainability
Students in Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, and Mathematics are conducting a preliminary micro-scale study of green roofs. These roofs, covered with living plants, are designed to minimize the environmental impact of buildings. Benefits of green roofs can include reduced storm water runoff, reduced heat island effects, removal of atmospheric carbon by the plants, increased building insulation, and increased roof lifespan.
In this study, students are comparing stormwater runoff from four different green roof configurations and standard gravel roofs. They are sampling the runoff and analyzing it for quantity, nutrients and mercury content. The results of this study will be used to improve the design of green roofs that can be installed on campus buildings including the new science building.
Industry partner
» Building Logics Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
Poster presentation
Poster presented at the 8th International Conference on Mercury as a Global
Pollutant, Madison Wisconsin, August 2006
» Download
poster [PDF]
Marlin Chronicle article
» Sky's the Limit for Green Roofs, March, 2006
Setup of the greenroof monitoring experiment on the Virgnina Wesleyan campus.