Sustainable Roofs and Institutional Building (The Drawing Board column)

Sustainable roofing systems can be many things, but primarily they are assemblies that provide a covering protecting a building from the elements (i.e., water, sun, cold, and heat) while minimizing their burden on the environment and conserving energy. Considerations such as low environmental impact, initial cost, life-cycle cost, as well as recycled content are all very important when assessing roof sustainability. There is presently not an accepted, all inclusive definition for a sustainable roof. This article provides the basic tenants of roof sustainability and cites recent examples where sustainable roofs were used on institutional buildings.

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