Installing a green roof on top of your home can be a real minefield – expensive, weight and drainage issues, difficult to maintain etc etc.
Toyota Roof Gardens (a subsidiary of the Prius-creating car company) have created a tile-based system that’s as easy as laying down carpet. The TM9 self-watering turf tiles connect directly to an irrigation system, so they self-water. At only 2 inches thick they are lightweight and don’t require any additional structural upgrading to your existing roof and rumored to cost $43 per tile. It is a modular, apparently easy-to-install system that only needs to be cut once a year.
I hadn´t seen my good old friend Magnus for about 5 years and when I last year produced a “geek” event Crossover Nordic on the island of Orust in Sweden, I realised that our venue Slussens Pensionat was only 10 minutes from his house and the Eco village that he has been part of creating. I have heard about the plans and the process for many years over many coffees but to actually visit it and see it in real life was fantastic.
He told me that he built the whole house by himself with no help and by using Google to find material and to learn different skills such as plumbing, carpentry, electricity etc. The house is taking its fresh water from a lake and clean it and pump it back again.
“Massey”
To prepare the ground and to move material he had to get a tractor…a classy Massey Fergusson and since he is a fixer he had to mend it first because it didnt work.
“Prototype”
To test if he actually could build a whole house by himself, he started with a prototype. When that worked well, he went on to build the main building. It took him about a year.
So there I am… on Orust working with Nordic content producers to create new ideas from the web and mobile and Magnus has managed to mock up a house using Google, rapid development including a prototype. Sustainable as well…!
It’s official, oxygen is good for you! It reduces stress, increases energy and alertness, lessening the effects of hangovers, headaches, and sinus problems, and generally relaxes the body…ooh what a surprise!
Apparently we’re not getting enough of it in cities. So what can we do?
Apart from reducing our Co2 emissions and taking frequent escapes to the country for a gulp of the fresh stuff, here are a couple of options to keep us going:
Or listen to researcher Kamal Meattle, who shows how simply by arranging three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.
GREEN ROOF TILES by Toyota Roof Garden | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.
