There are many different ways to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the energy in your home. One way to save on energy bills and help create a greener environment is to create a “Blue Roof” for your home.
A “blue roof” is a sustainable way to store and save excess rain and storm runoff. Instead of allowing plentiful amounts of storm water go to waste, blue roofs hold and store the water, allowing the water to be reused for showers, irrigation, etc.
Many places have already begun implementing blue roof technology into their building designs and structure. Below are pictures of real blue roofs installed at 330 Dundas Street West in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Case Study
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| Taken from Wearcam.org Here is a combination of green roofs and blue roofs… It is an awesome display of what can happen when we go eco-friendly. |
 [1] |
A: Lakota Wind Turbine presently installed at the 330 Dundas Street site.
B: Rainwater runoff from flat roofs is diverted by sloped solar panels C
into a storage tank D.
E: The user (bather) of the shower stands under the tank to receive an initial
wet down with rain water.
F: The shower base is made from recycled automobile tyres (crumb rubber),
in which phased-array micro radar systems have been embedded.
The radar tracks flesh, and water is directed to only hit flesh, to
get zero water waste.
G: Runoff from the shower irrigates a “green roof” (rooftop garden).
There are also blue roofs being considered for the Bahen and Best buildings at the University of Toronto.
Second Case Study
Blue Roof technology has been implemented in a major shopping mall in England as well. This particular U.K. shopping mall was hit by strong thunderstorms which overcame the mall’s rainfall draining system. Instead of paying lots of money to repair the pipes, this mall was able to install the blue roof technology designed to store the excess water, and, by doing so, avoided having to buy the costly new pipes. [2]
In addition, a March 2010 newsletter for the Resource Conservation Managers in the Northwest, states that, “A properly designed blue roof may earn one to four points toward LEED certification for a new building or a retrofit of an existing one. [3]”
CITATIONS
[1]
http://wearcam.org/ecoshower/
