May 2013
| Business World Magazine | 95
In terms of the benefits for customers,
Hagan explains than on any 90 degree day,
typical roofs will swelter to a blazing blast of
160 degrees, which puts a sufficient burden
on cooling systems that have to work doubly
hard. A green roof, however, stays closer to
the ambient temperature, thus helping in-
terior spaces stay cool right along with util-
ity costs. Green roofs also help extend the
overall life of a roof (with some case studies
showing these to have double the lifespan
of conventional roofs) because they better
mitigate impacts from UV rays or other en-
vironmental conditions.
Vegetative roofing systems not only allow
for increased energy efficiency and environ-
mental protection, but also an important
benefit resulting from reduced storm water
run-off. Hagan says vegetation can help re-
tain large amounts of storm water, which ul-
timately gets evaporated rather than drain-
ing into a retention pond or sewage system,
which again poses genuine economic ben-
efits.
Tecta’s daylighting systems have also
proven effective to diminishing utility costs.
Artificial interior lighting can constitute as
much as a third of a business’ total energy
costs. Specially designed to provide maxi-
mum streaming of the sun’s natural illumina-
Augustine
