A grocery store in Montreal has constructed a 1.5 acre garden on top of its roof. It's the largest in Canada. All 30 types of vegetables are grown on the roof then sold as certified organic produce inside the store. Not only does the rooftop garden provide fresh local produce for locals to buy, it cools the city's heat islands. Compared to a tar or gravel roof, the green roof doesn't emit as much heat.
The owners were inspired by a 2015 city policy forcing all new construction projects's roofs to be 50% white or green.
What's a green roof? According to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, "Green roof development involves the creation of "contained" green space on top of a human-made structure. Green roof technologies not only provide the owners of buildings with a proven return on investment, but also represent opportunities for significant social, economic, and environmental benefits, particularly in cities."
Despite green roofs having too many benefits to list here, the U.S. has been slow to adopt the idea. "In North America, the benefits of green roof technologies are poorly understood and the market remains immature, despite the efforts of industry leaders. In Europe however, these technologies have become very well established. This has been the direct result of government legislation and financial support."
Local governments love job creation. Here's some benefits that lead to that:
- The growth of green roof markets gives new job opportunities related to manufacturing, plant growth, design, installation, and maintenance.
- American Rivers suggests that a USD $10B investment could create 190,000 jobs by building 48.5 billion-square-feet of green roof area, or just one percent of the United States' roof space in every community over 50,000 in population.
- There is significant potential for new growth in dense urban areas that were previously unusable.
The folks involved in the Orlando's Signature Dish project would be happy about this grocery store's roof. The bee hives produce roughly 600 jars of honey.