France now requiring GREEN ROOFS.

France recently joined the trend of requiring all new commercial buildings to install at least a partial "green roof" covered with vegetation, solar panels or a combination of both. These green roofs, and green walls, offer a variety of environmental and recreational benefits that have the potential to significantly improve a community's landscape.

"There are a wide range of different types of green roofs," Steven Peck, founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, said. "There are ones with parks, trees and shrubs, some that grow food, some that are designed specifically for biodiversity and some that are designed mainly for aesthetic purposes."

According to Peck, there is a long list of both public and private benefits that green roofs and green walls can offer to anyone that chooses to install them. Some of the public benefits include acting as a system of storm water management by retaining rainwater, as well as acting as an air filtration system by absorbing possible pollutants.

A major benefit of green roofs and walls that has been receiving a lot of international attention is their potential to provide increased energy efficiency in heating and cooling. Energy management is a growing concern, and green roofs may be part of the solution.

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