How Denver Can Combat Its High Temperature Problem
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Doing Your Part: Raise the Roof
The real estate atop our homes and garages seems like an awful waste of space—until you let Andy Creath green it up for you.
We rarely expend much mental bandwidth on the state of our roofs unless they recently took a beating in a hailstorm. But maybe we should. According to a 2014 study from Climate Central, an independent climate change research organization, Denver had the third-worst urban heat island effect of the 60 cities it studied. The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon in which pavement, concrete, and other heat-trapping materials lead to warmer temperatures in urban centers than in nearby rural areas. In Denver, that can mean up to a 23-degree difference between downtown and, say, the edges of the Eastern Plains. For sauna lovers, that might sound absolutely dreamy; however, urbanization combined with climate change could begin to cook our cities in ways that stress energy resources, imperil economies, and jeopardize human health—particularly in low-income areas and in communities of color, which are disproportionately affected by climate change.
Denverites can help nudge the thermometer down by greening their homes’ rooftops, which is where Green Roofs of Colorado comes in. Founded by former Environmental Protection Agency worker Andy Creath in 2007, Green Roofs of Colorado designs, installs, and maintains roofs on residential and commercial buildings across the state, including at the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Clyfford Still Museum. “An 800-square-foot residential green roof isn’t going to have the impact of a 25,000-square-foot commercial roof,” Creath says, “but if 20 houses do it, it certainly adds up.” Plus, Creath explains, green roofs—basic versions of which cost roughly $25 per square foot, not including potentially necessary structural changes—help with energy efficiency in the indoor areas below them, offer space to grow your own food, detain stormwater, clean the air, increase habitat and biodiversity, and, in a satisfying twist, actually protect your roof from hail damage. Below, Creath helps us detail some of the fundamentals of green roofing.
