| Concern about the environment has been growing in the United States for more than thirty years. With the new mellinnium environmental concerns have blossomed into actions. Government, industry and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have all begun enacting requirements and standards to promote the development and use of environmentally friendly building practices. The concepts of green build and sustainability have been adopted by the AIA. Green building is defined as a project that conceptualizes systems that, when integrated into construction, bring efficiencies to the mechanical operation and human performance. It also considers the true cost of a building's impact on the local and regional environment. Sustainablility as defined by the World Building Council is meeting society's needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Green roofs, also called living roofs or eco-roofs, are complete roof systems of vegetation, soil, drainage and a waterproof membrane. They can range from very lightweight systems with as little as one and one half inches of soil and low succulent plantings, to deeper heavier systems that support a wide variety of plantings.
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