GREEN ROOF TILES by Toyota Roof Garden | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World

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.

So how can we get hold of these in the UK?

Professor C J Lim (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture) speaks at a UCL Lunchtime Lecture on the research behind his new book:

Unchecked growth of our cities at the expense of agricultural land is threatening food security and sustainable urban development worldwide.  Reframing the way people think about urban green space and the evolution of cities, CJ Lim explores how the notion of the smartcity can reintegrate agricultural practices and cultivated land within urban environments. The hybridization of agriculture and establishment of the city-dwelling farmer can lead to an association that is symbiotic, reducing carbon emissions and food shortage, in addition to less tangible but equally significant environmental and social benefits.

“Google house and Magnus”

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 understandable that the public purse has limited resources, but a little bit of imagination and the willingness to recognise that pleasure, meaning, and satisfaction in one’s surroundings has a great impact on social psychology, and culture.

We could literally improve society by improving design of space and instilling pride of place!

I recently came across this image on D*Hub by Joep Verhoeven showing how traditional lace design has been put into a modern context.

I wish our local council Tower Hamlets and local developers would consider adding a bit of long-lasting beauty to our environment! A little here and there goes a long way!

Maybe we can convince them…

The Story of Co-Design by thinkpublic

At our work retreat this week-end we were joined by faculty members from around the world and our Canadian comrades seem more aware than we are in the UK about the impact of office environments and our health. Apparently we need an ionizer because we have dead air and also need to switch off our fluorescent lights!

So we’ve been sitting in the dark ever since.

So what is so unhealthy about office environments and what can we do to improve them? After all, we do spend half our waking hours of the working week there.

Early in 2008, in response to renewed public concern arising from use of type II luminaires, NRPB carried out a study on Ultraviolet Radiation (UVR) from Fluorescent Lamps based on a sample of readily available lamps. Assessments were made of the possible potential risk for the induction of acute effects by reference to the suggested UVR exposure limits then in use and the results indicate that fluorescent lamps still do not present an acute hazard.

For this risk assessment, it was assumed that “a person is subject to 157 MED y ^-1 of solar UVR up to age 18, and then (as an indoor worker) is subject to 93 MED y ^-1 of solar radiation. These values have been used in a study of the impact of ozone depletion ⁶ using an MED of 200 J m ^-2. The exposure model assumes a two-week holiday in August in the UK ⁸. The indoor worker is also exposed to UVR from workplace lighting. The increased risk of contracting NMSC from an occupational exposure of 6.0 MED y ^-1 as opposed to 4.6 MED y ^-1 (at 300 J m ^-2 per MED) can be calculated.

In summary, under the conditions of this analysis they conclude that at commonly used illumination levels the UVR emissions presented neither an acute nor a significant chronic hazard ¹.”

According to new research by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) however, “some energy saving compact fluorescent lights can emit ultraviolet radiation at levels that, under certain conditions of use, can result in exposures higher than guideline levels.” see their piece on Precautionary advice: Energy saving compact fluorescent lights about the use of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in the home.

I think we need a bit more information on the risks of fluorescent lighting and any well founded comments would be greatly appreciated, as well as advice on how we can light up our working and home envoironments in a healhy way.

As for us at our office I can’t see us leaving the fluorescents off for long. It’s a dark office and it’s pretty miserable working is such a dull environment…I don’t know which is worse!

Do you want to grow your own food but don´t own a piece of land to grow it own? Then check this out:

Landshare is a new initiative that linking people who want to grow their own food to space where they can grow it. Channel 4 is one of the partners together with digital experts including Sixtostart, Mint Digital and presenter Hugh Fernley Whittingstall.

In the words of Adam Gee, Channel 4 Commissioner, Landshare:

“…links people who want to grow their own fruit & veg (but can’t get an allotment) with people who have bits of land they can grow it on.”

It’s great to be a part of Landshare. I’m certain it will have a big impact. At the moment, 60% of the food we consume in Britain comes from overseas (80% in London). If we utilise the space available, that number could fall to as low as 15%.

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:

You can either go for an oxygen top-up at a store

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.

These plants are:

- Areca Palm (living room)

- Mother in laws tongue (bedroom)

- Money Plant (specialist plant removes chemicals)

Right, I’m off to Columbia Road on Sunday to find mine. Oh, hang on, how many plants?!