Germany Green Roof Statistics

Germany had 86 million square metres in 2014 with new additions of roughly eight million square metres a year according to the european federation of green roof and wall associations.

Germany green roof statistics. Germany is the country with the most green roofs in the world and it is the country with the most advanced knowledge in modern green roof technology. Green roofs like this one in berlin germany support specialized hearty vegetation and provide environmental services such as stormwater retention urban heat island effect amelioration habitat for urban wildlife and energy savings resulting from better insulation. Sod roofs are frequently found on traditional farmhouses and farm buildings in iceland. Today in europe about 10 000 000m of new green roofs are being constructed each year.

Green roofs have excellent noise attenuation especially for low frequency sounds. According to their 2015 report there was a green roof stock of 86 million square metres in germany in 2014 and about another 8 million square metres were added every year. Green roofs can increase a building s marketability. Cities such as stuttgart and copenhagen have begun to mandate green roofs on most new construction.

In the 1970s when the oil crisis was at its height germany was one of the first countries to investigate the use of green roofs for energy conservation and by the middle of the noughties there were an estimated 13 million square metres of roofing in the country covered with greenery. During a 10 month monitoring period asla s green roof prevented 27 500 gallons of stormwater nearly 78 percent of all precipitation hitting the roof from flowing into d c s overburdened sewer and stormwater system. Roof produced a 10 percent decrease in building energy use over the winter months. Today this has risen to between 100 and 150 million square metres the german roof gardens association estimates.

Green roofs can also reduce stormwater runoff by holding water within the substrate and therefore delaying the runoff time. Germany has the greatest share of green roofs within europe with yearly sales figures amounting to around 250 million euros. Over the past 40 years german policies have successfully encouraged green. Today it is estimated that about 10 of all german roofs have been greened.

An extensive green roof can reduce sound from outside by 40 decibels while an intensive green roof can reduce sound by 46 50 decibels peck et al. A number of european countries have very active associations promoting green roofs including germany switzerland the netherlands norway italy austria hungary sweden the uk and greece.