Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo by Megan Zirkle

Sky’s the limit for green roofs

By Emerald Vadella

Virginia Wesleyan College received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for $10,000 to develop a project for the EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) competition.

“[The P3 competition] challenges students to respond to the scientific and technical needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability through research and development,” said Timothy Oppelt, acting assistant administrator for the EPA.

There are 41 other schools that received this grant as well. In May 2006, each school will submit their research and results to compete in Washington, D.C. for the EPA’s P3 award.

“Challenges to sustainability in a wide range of categories were considered for this competition, including water, energy, agriculture, ecosystems, and information technology,” said Oppelt. “The VWC team is focusing on ‘Moving Towards a Sustainable Campus: Design of a Green Roof Monitoring Experiment.’”

Dr. Margaret Reese, assistant professor of math and computer science, Dr. Elizabeth Malcolm, assistant professor of ocean and atmospheric studies, and Dr. Maynard Schaus, associate professor of biology, are the volunteer faculty advisers for the student team that will compete for the P3 award.

Each professor has a group of students working on the experiment. They are testing to see whether or not green roofs can minimize the pollution in runoff, particularly nutrients and mercury. Both nutrient and mercury pollution are problems facing the Chesapeake Bay.

Malcolm’s students are monitoring the amount of mercury in the runoff.

“This is good for the students to get experience working on a real research project,” said Malcolm.

Schaus’s students are measuring the nutrients and plant growth for the experiment.

Reese and her students will be doing a statistical analysis on all of the gathered experiment information.

The current roofs on campus are made of tar and gravel. The green roofs have three different layers: the bottom layer is the drainage layer, the middle is the absorption layer made of recycled plastic, and the top layer is made up of gravel and dirt with a plant in it.

The students are testing for the amount of mercury and nutrients in the runoff with the experiments they have set up in the fountain in front of the Hofheimer library, the Blocker roof and the Village III apartment roof.

On the Blocker and apartment roofs, the students are testing for the amount of mercury in the regular roof runoff. In the fountain in front of the library, they have set up many different possible green roofs to test the amount of mercury in each. Some of them have only the absorption layer, others have just the drainage layer and two are strictly gravel.

“Green roofs cost more initially,” said Malcolm. “But because the green roof lasts 20 years longer than a regular roof, the long-term effect is more cost efficient.”

The physical plant built the tables for the experiment, and the green roof materials were purchased from Building Logics, which is the college’s industry partner.

Green roofs will reduce runoff, which can minimize flooding, and the plants will absorb carbon dioxide.

The college is currently putting together its application for a grant from the state for the green roofs for Village I dorms. The current capital campaign includes raising money for the new science building and plans include a green roof.