Instead of looking down on cement roofs, students taking classes at the Plant and Soil Sciences Building will be able to look down on plants and grass.
On Friday, part of the building's rooftop became home to 3,500 square feet of sedum, a moist plant that can withstand intense heat, cold and lack of rain.
The green roof was the result of planning and development by Clayton Rugh, assistant professor in the department of crop and soil sciences and Bradley Rowe, an associate professor of horticulture.
"Green roofs are well established in Europe," Rugh said. "They're still kind of novel in North America though."
Graduate student Angie Durhman, who was involved in the planting and developing of the roof, said the benefits of having plants on the roof as opposed to other roofing materials, such as shingles, are environmentally friendly.
"The green roofs retain close to 100 percent of storm water and help to cool down the air," Durhman said. "It's also better to look at plants than gravel."
Rugh, also said the benefits of the roof go beyond aesthetics.
"Shingles don't cool buildings and they wear out," Rugh said. "The plants, however, cool buildings and minimize storm water run off."
Rowe said the cost of the green roof is more expensive than other options, costing about $30,000, but it also lasts longer.
"Depending on what type of roof you use, in the short run, the plant roofs are twice as much," Rowe said. "But in the long run they last twice as long,"
Fred Poston, vice president for finance and operations also believes the plants will be more beneficial in the long run.
"I think from the data that I saw, it looked like the green roofs, reportedly, extends the life of the roof 40-50 years, something the new roofing systems can do but the older ones can't." Poston said.
Terry Link, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, hopes that if the green roof on the Plants and Soil Sciences Building is successful, more buildings will receive green roofs instead of other roofing options.
"Since we're a learning environment, more green roofs would be better," Link said.
Poston said that the university's interest in the project could mean more green roofs.
"We have a bunch of older buildings that are going to need new roofing systems and in certain situations we can't use the new types of roofing materials," Poston said. "We're going to collect data and over a couple years and see if this works."
Durhman said the mission of the project is not only to have a better roof for one building, but to also encourage other builders to consider it as a roofing option. She added the next building to receive a green roof will be the Communication Arts and Sciences Building.
"Our mission is to make more people aware of the roofs and push to have shopping malls and others businesses choose green roofs instead of plain old roofing," Durhman said.
