program, it would be very nice to see
governments recognizing that green roofs
and walls, and urban forests, and all these
green infrastructure technologies have a
role to play and should be recognized as
infrastructure. And, the funds should be
made available to create the jobs and get all
of the other benefits that come from them.
We need water and energy utilities to
recognize that by keeping stormwater on
the envelope of a building, it saves energy,
reduces the urban heat island and can
reduce flooding. There are shared interests
between the water and energy sectors and
very little sharedprogramming. That needs
to change.
The third thing I would like to see in five
years is more big-box developers embracing
green roofs and walls. They've been a tough
market. They're very cost-conscious, but
we've made some headway and even
Walmart, has recently released a report that
shows that green roofs can generate a return
on investment. I'd like to see more big-box
retailers embrace living architecture
because they cover huge amounts of land.
So, if we can get the developers of big-boxes
and owners of big-boxes to recognize that,
not only do they have an obligation to put
green roofs on in terms of the community,
there's also a really good economic
argument, we canmakemore progress here.
August-September 2014
| BusinessWorld | 49
