READING_16 OCTOBER, 2023_FALL23_HALF 1 - Google Chrome
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READING PASSAGE 1
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1. Creative urban planners continually seek new ways to make cities more satisfying places to live. [A] One versatile tool in this pursuit is the "green roof," which draws from fundamental precepts in architectural design, horticulture, and urban development. At its most basic, a green roof system transforms a conventional roof into a living roof by adding a waterproof membrane. [B] The membrane is then covered with drainage and filter layers, a growth medium (e.g. soil), and live plants. [C] A green roof can be built on a flat or graded surface, can be thick or thin, and can feature a wide range of plant cover, from common lawn grasses, to edible vegetables, to delicate flowering plants. Familiar rooftop gardens have plants in pots or planters. A green roof goes further. It is an integral part of a building and one that offers ecological and economic benefits, as well as aesthetic appeal. [D]
2. Roofs covered in living plants were used in ancient Mesopotamia for aesthetic purposes, in Viking settlements, and on the American Great Plains for basic shelter and insulation. The green roof, however, is a relatively recent creation. The first modern green roofs were developed in Germany during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their main function was to slow water drainage that was straining storm-sewer systems in urban areas where natural vegetation was scarce. The idea subsequently spread through Europe and made a few inroads into some American cities.
3. Many environmental benefits can result from the adoption of green roofs. Preliminary research suggests that living roofs help clean polluted urban air. For example, grass acts as a natural air filter, removing each day 0.2 kilograms of airborne particulates from the air per square meter of grass-covered surface. By converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen through photosynthesis, plants also help limit the build-up of atmospheric CO2, a greenhouse gas. One-and-a-half square meters of uncut grass produces enough oxygen per year to meet the annual oxygen requirement of an average human being.
4. Rooftop green space in cities also helps mitigate the so-called urban heat island effect. Structures surfaced with conventional building materials absorb solar radiation and release it into the near-surface environment in the form of heat. The effect is to raise the air temperature in a city by up to 5° Celsius over the temperature in the surrounding countryside. Using mathematical models, a Canadian research team found that if only 5 percent of the roof area of Toronto had green roofs, air temperatures would be reduced by 1° to 2° Celsius.
5. Green roofs save money through energy and resource conservation. Studies done in Germany, where an estimated 10 percent of all roofs today are green, suggest that green roofs last two to three times longer than conventional roofs. The long service life of a green roof means that fewer resources and less energy will be expended in roof replacement.
6. Green roofs also save money by lowering the cost of interior heating and cooling. One study found that an average building with a green
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