Green roof program toronto

The city is also prone to flooding; in , a single flood damaged , homes and left , people without power. Toronto became the first city in North America to mandate and govern the construction of green roofs on new development in The Green Roof Bylaw which includes a Green Roof Construction Standard and the parallel Eco-Roof Incentive Program are responsible for over , square meters of new green space, an estimated reduction in citywide temperature, and the widespread promotion of green roofs.

The study provided evidence to support the efficacy of green roofs and prompted the city to launch a pilot cost-share program to incentivize green roof construction on private buildings. In , the city adopted the Toronto Green Roof Bylaw, which took effect in for most building types, and in for new industrial development. The bylaw and associated Green Roof Construction Standard incorporated feedback from numerous engagement sessions that included both industry and community stakeholders.

The bylaw established a graduated green roof requirement, ranging from 20 to 60 percent coverage, for all commercial, institutional, and residential buildings with a minimum gross floor area of 2, square meters.

Consideration of the local planning context resulted in exemptions for residential developments less than six stories tall. Developers can use the Green Roof Screening Tool to quickly determine if and how the bylaw will affect their projects. For building owners who cannot or choose not to meet the green roof requirements, the bylaw offers a cash-in-lieu alternative; however, only about 5 percent of developers choose this option.

What is a green roof For the purposes of the incentive program, a green roof is defined as a system where a vegetated area becomes part of the building's roof and includes vegetation, a growing medium, a filter layer, a drainage layer, a root resistance layer and a waterproof membrane.

More information on green roofs is available. Jump to: navigation , search. Loading map Personal tools Log in. Namespaces Page protected. Views Read Edit with form Edit View history. Policy Search. Featured GreenPolicy PlanetCitizen. Strategic Demands StrategicDemands. Data, Intelligence, Science Measure-to-Manage. Doomsday Scenarios Apocalyptic Thinking. Green roofs also provide valuable green space within dense urban environments where it otherwise would be limited.

The urban heat island effect is the idea that urban spaces will heat up more quickly, and to greater temperatures, than the surrounding countryside. A greatly simplified explanation is that the glass, steel, concrete, and asphalt among other materials will retain heat a greater amount of heat than a vegetated landscape would.

One of the more pressing concerns in Southern Ontario regarding climate change is the predicted increase in extreme heat days, a factor that will only be exacerbated by the urban heat island effect. One of mechanisms that can be utilized to reduce the danger of extreme heat is the use of green or cool roofs, which use vegetated or reflective surfaces to help cool a rooftop and, therefore the building itself and the surrounding environs.

The City took into account many different variables when judging the efficacy of such approaches, including data on energy efficiency, storm water retention volumes, plant survival, unit cooling benefits and other variables. The use of these metrics indicated that such a program was financially viable. The first step was taken, in , was to create a controlled pilot program at a few select sites to determine the viability of the roof structure and experiment with planting different variations of vegetation species and communities to ensure optimal outcomes in both survivability and cooling and other outcomes.