At Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings, we believe green roofs are beautiful, beneficial, and just overall wonderful. But we know the cost is sometimes more than our clients had originally budgeted when they contact us. We love providing our clients with the green roof of their dreams no matter the budget, and soon it will be a little easier to do so.
As green roofs and other forms of Building-Integrated Vegetation become more popular, prices start to drop. For example, according to an article in Energy Management Today, by 2017 one of the major components of green roofs provided to us by our supplier Columbia Green Technologies will drop by 28 percent.
What this means for our customers is that our current estimated cost per square foot for a large commercial roof will drop from the current $25 per square foot as low as $18 per square foot. Residential green roofs prices will drop at an even faster rate, although they are more expensive per square foot. A small residential green roof will drop from approximately $40 per square foot to under $30 per square foot.
When we are able to pass along a savings of nearly one-third, this is a price difference that could create opportunities for more homeowners and small businesses to afford the green roof they have always wanted. We are excited about this.
GreenScaped Buildings installed this green roof at the Caralli residence in Del Mar.
Take a look at this residential green roof at the Caralli residence in Del Mar. A green roof still represents a commitment to your home and to the environment. But it wasn’t so many years ago that only a small percentage of homeowners would even consider installing solar panels. Now the pricing has dropped and the technology has improved enough for them to be a fairly common item in many neighborhoods with more people investing in solar energy projects every day. And the more people who have installed solar panels, the more the price drops for everyone.
We predict the same thing to happen with green roofs. There are more considerations to keep in mind with green roofs versus solar panels, but we will be thrilled to see green roofs become more popular. And consider this: green roofs and solar panels make perfect partners, because a green roof can improve the efficiency of your solar energy system by as much as 16 percent.
The future of green roofs is growing, and we can’t wait to help the environment, home owners, facility managers, building owners, plant lovers, and sustainability advocates reap the benefits of reduced energy use, reduced storm water run-off and increased bio-diversity. Plus, they are far more attractive to look at than an old, nasty asphalt roof.
