Germany Green Roof Statistics

Green roofs can increase a building s marketability.

Germany green roof statistics.

In the 1970s when the oil crisis was at its height germany was one of the first countries to investigate the use of green roofs for energy conservation and by the middle of the noughties there were an estimated 13 million square metres of roofing in the country covered with greenery. Green roof performance data. Green roofs like this one in berlin germany support specialized hearty vegetation and provide environmental services such as stormwater retention urban heat island effect amelioration habitat for urban wildlife and energy savings resulting from better insulation. A number of european countries have very active associations promoting green roofs including germany switzerland the netherlands norway italy austria hungary sweden the uk and greece.

Cities such as stuttgart and copenhagen have begun to mandate green roofs on most new construction. Over the past 40 years german policies have successfully encouraged green. Roof produced a 10 percent decrease in building energy use over the winter months. Some 20 to 25 percent of the city s flat roofs are green and due to a combination of government incentives tax abatements and regulations so are 10 percent of the roofs throughout germany.

Green roofs can also reduce stormwater runoff by holding water within the substrate and therefore delaying the runoff time. Today in europe about 10 000 000m of new green roofs are being constructed each year. According to their 2015 report there was a green roof stock of 86 million square metres in germany in 2014 and about another 8 million square metres were added every year. Green roofs have excellent noise attenuation especially for low frequency sounds.

Today this has risen to between 100 and 150 million square metres the german roof gardens association estimates. Today it is estimated that about 10 of all german roofs have been greened. An extensive green roof can reduce sound from outside by 40 decibels while an intensive green roof can reduce sound by 46 50 decibels peck et al. Sod roofs are frequently found on traditional farmhouses and farm buildings in iceland.

Germany has the greatest share of green roofs within europe with yearly sales figures amounting to around 250 million euros. During a 10 month monitoring period asla s green roof prevented 27 500 gallons of stormwater nearly 78 percent of all precipitation hitting the roof from flowing into d c s overburdened sewer and stormwater system.