We received a lot of positive feedback from attendees participating in our inaugural Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 this past September through October about the very high quality of the speakers we offered for such an affordable price…

…And conversely, a lot of speakers have asked us if their videos would be available afterwards for viewing by the general public – those who did not pay the $49 or $25 to attend.

We certainly do not want all of the Virtual Summit’s speakers’ efforts and great information to go to waste…and we feel that our readership would love to see the content!

So, Greenroofs.com’s plan is to show each of our 4 keynote speakers, 7 panel sessions, and 19 video presentations (plus my opening and closing remarks) in its entirety as we played it at the 2011 Virtual Summit – from everyone who grants us permission.

You can see my Opening Welcome and Overview now, along with the Virtual Summit Highlights Video and the Trailer on greenroofs.tv.  We’ll be showing our Opening Keynote Speaker Charlie Miller as the first featured video tomorrow, on Wednesday, December 7 followed by one or two videos a week thereafter which we’ll highlight on our Homepage.

Once played, each video will remain available to everyone on demand on the greenroofs.tv page and our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube.  We hope to show everyone what they missed at our inaugural Virtual Summit and create buzz for the 2012 Virtual Summit!

If you didn’t join us for 2011 we hope you will in 2012 – then you won’t have to wait months to see all of the great new keynote, panel, and presentation videos!

We hope you enjoy each of the 32 videos and use them in the future for your reference – we’re very proud of the wonderful collaborations from around the world.  Please share with your greenroof and greenwall colleagues.

Happy greening ~

Linda V.

Have you seen our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 Highlights Video yet?  It’s fast paced and fun, see:

We put together snippets of 10-15 seconds of all of our speakers – well almost all.  We didn’t include the ones we had previously included in our Trailer Video -namely Xianmin Wang, Lluis Recasens Pahí, and João Manuel Linck Feijó - for time reasons.  But you can still see them in the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011Trailer Video below:

So, watch the video and get a glimpse of what you would see in our virtual environment.  You still have about a week to register, all the way up until October 28th.  You’ll have access to the expo pavilions and can visit all the exhibitor and associate booths plus see our amazing speakers!

You’ll find the speaker presentations in two places:  The Rare Earth Auditorium, sponsored by Tremco, and the On Demand Auditorium.

The Rare Earth Auditorium is where you’ll find all the presentations that were scheduled live, including our four illustrious Keynote Speakers – Andrew Grant, Charlie Miller, Ed Snodgrass, and Ralph Velasquez – most with the live Q & A Sessions that followed the original playing.  You can still read all the commentary, too.  Here you’ll find:

The On Demand Auditorium hold the presentations for the speakers who were not scheduled live – although in effect, once a presentation played once, they were all on demand.

These include:

We’re very proud of our inaugural Virtual Summit and know you’ll be very pleased, too.  See the Speakers page and Agenda to learn all about each presenter and their presentation or panel session descriptions.

You still can’t beat the price for over 30 individual and panel sessions - only $49 or $25 for students & faculty and government professionals!

Happy Greening,

Linda V.

Our vision of producing and sharing the virtual experience to our industry with our inaugural Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 was successful, and we couldn’t have done it without the great support of many people, in particular our main patron, Rare Earth Sponsor TREMCO, along with Emerald Sponsor American Hydrotech.

Thanks again also to our Exhibitors Grant Associates, Green Living Technologies, Green Roof Blocks, GreenGrid Roofs, Green Roof Plants, ILD, J-DRain, and Roofmeadow – although the lifeblood of any conference is its speakers, the sponsors and exhibitors make it happen – none of this would have been possible without their financial support!

We are so proud to have put together the most amazing community of talented international speakers that you could have asked for – all leaders in their fields.  See the Speakers page and read all about them and their presentations.

Speaking of our Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Speakers, I’d like to stress that although the 2 live days have passed, the end of the Virtual Summit is on October 28 – if you missed out on September 27 & 28, you can still register until October 28!

You can’t beat the price of only $49 – or $25 for students/faculty/government professionals - to access all 32 of our great panel sessions, interviews, presentations, and live Q & A commentary plus see the latest from manufacturer/supplier and organization/government exhibitors.

Visit all of our truly unique and innovative areas within the virtual environment: the Rare Earth and On Demand Auditoriums, the Tremco Meeting Room, the Sky Terrace Networking Lounge, the Media Lounge, and the International, North American & Associates Pavilions at the Expo – did you know you can still chat with your fellow online attendees either in a public or private via video, audio, or text while logged in?

We’re putting together an awesome Highlights Video of our wonderful participants to give you a taste of what you are missing – look for it soon!  We hope to see you still in Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011!  Register here.

Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!

~ Linda V.

We here at Greenroofs.com have rescheduled the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 for September 27th (Tuesday) & 28th (Wednesday).   A large number of unexpected events have made this decision necessary – from speaker delays/conflicts to personal events to technical glitches – yet, we know that the extra time will be well worth it in the end!

We are very excited about our exceptional line-up of speakers and exhibitors and the extra time will ensure that the event will be a unique experience like no other!

We will also be extending the Early Bird Pre-Registration date for the Virtual Summit quite a bit – up to a little more than 2 weeks before the event, which now will run through September 9.

Remember the Early Bird rate is only $49 (or $25 for students/faculty and government professionals) for both days plus the 30 archived on-demand days afterwards which includes over 30 presentations and panel sessions from 50+ colleagues from around the world.  So that means that the drawing for the first of two Apple iPad2s that we’ll be giving away will be announced on September 10 here on the Sky Gardens blog.

I’m hoping to finally release the agenda by the end of this week or Monday.  We have some incredibly awesome presentations, both individual and panel sessions – stay tuned!

See our Press Release here.  See you at the end of September!

~ Linda V.

Patrick Carey, hadj design principal, member of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, greenroof designer and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities trainer extraordinaire – and Architecture Editor here on Greenroofs.com – is featured in the July 27, 2011 KING5.com Evening Magazine video “Go Green with Greenroofs.”  Click below:

Host Jim Dever describes how a green revolution is sprouting up, so to speak!

Patrick is interviewed extensively with Seattle City Hall in the background and on location at several area homes, including the Mazurek Art Studio and Jon Alexander’s Garage.

I was lucky to have visited them all and more along with Patrick Carey in August 2004 – read about it in my previous column (and inspiration for this blog), “Sky Gardens ~ Travels in Landscape Architecture” here.

“I think that green roofs are the greenest thing you can do in construction except not build at all!”  ~ Patrick Carey

Way to go, Patrick!

By the way, Patrick Carey will be leading one of our panels sessions at our upcoming Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 on August 23 and 24, 2011:  Join him along with Dr. Robert Berghage, Charlie Miller and Ed Snodgrass as they examine “Greenroofs Without the Hype.”

Knowing those four, it should be pretty interesting!  Happy Greening,

~ Linda V.

We’re getting closer to the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 and Early Bird Pre-Registration is coming along quite nicely!  If you haven’t done so yet, pre-register by the end of August 10, 2011 to qualify for the first of two iPad2s that we’re giving away.

Have you seen the videos on the Virtual Summit Homepage yet?  They’re quite short yet very informative and will set you up to expect easy navigation and great interactive participation. They talk about various features of the very cool Social Collaboration Network or SCN, which is the collaboration glue for the entire virtual experience!

The Campus, above, is the home or starting point.  Watch the 2:50 video “How to find and connect with people in the virtual environment” below from our vendor, 6Connex.  It will introduce you to the campus setting and how to start connecting by finding any person within the Virtual Summit:

The video explains how you always start out, once you’re logged in, by clicking on the Chat icon on navigation bar on the bottom, lower right, where you can then select Public or Private chat or the Message button.  Search for people by multiple ways, see their profile, and send personal messages via video or text.  This allows you to connect directly with colleagues, old or new, by inviting them to chat.

Remember, you can access these features from the navigation bar, edit your profile at any time, and if you need assistance, you can always just go to the help desk for a live person on either August 23 or 24.

We’ll be featuring more of these short but sweet videos soon! Until then, stay up to date with our social media sites where you can help us get the word out by inviting your friends and associates – tell them they can register for only $49 (or less if they’re student or faculty or a government employee):

Follow us on our Twitter page and we encourage you to tweet to your followers using our event hashtag, #virtualsummit2011.

Visit our LinkedIn Event page and share the event info with your connections and networks.

Like our Facebook page and help us promote it to your fans.

Subscribe to our YouTube GreenroofsTV Channel.

And, feel free to visit our Downloads page with Event Banner Ads for you to post and share, too.

Visit the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 website here to learn more!

~ Linda V.

Hopefully you’ve heard by now that on August 23 and 24 Greenroofs.com is hosting the first:

PEOPLE: Creative thinkers, innovators, and trailblazers sharing project-focused organic “vegitecture”

PROJECTS: International icons of sustainability:  early successes + current & visionary profiles of excellence in design

DESIGN: Proven standards of diverse green technologies + dynamic and cutting edge designs for greening the planet with building integrated greenery:  bioclimatic, biodiversity, biomimicry & chic sustainability

We are so excited so be venturing into the virtual arena!  This is the first virtual conference and expo experience specifically designed for the greenroof and greenwall industry … and really, who better than Greenroofs.com – the greenroof industry resource portal?  With all the domestic and international travelling that we do, we always have a blast seeing our friends and colleagues and listening to amazing people sharing stories and experiences about important and equally astounding projects.

So why not offer a similar experience that’s available to the whole world on a grand, yet affordable, scale?  You have to admit, the Internet is the great equalizer, and the 6Connex platform we selected is huge on the Social Collaboration Network (SCN) component, so you can participate live in many ways at the comfort of your computer/laptop/iPad.

Interact in real time by:

* Watching highlighted presentations and join in for live Q & A sessions;
* Visiting exhibitor booth reps in both the International Pavilion and the North American Pavilion using video/audio and/or text;
* Chatting with friends using the SCN – choose a private one on one chat or have up to four people on video, or join a public chat;
* Meeting new colleagues using the SCN – just introduce yourself and invite a new colleague to start a new chat!
* Swapping your Virtual Badge at any time to request additional information from a vendor!

We’ve lined up some awesome keynotes, at right, and favorite expert speakers doing individual presentations as well as several panel sessions – and look for all of Greenroofs.com’s Contributing Editors here, too!

Another cool aspect is that in addition to your admission on both August 23 and 24, you can continue coming back as often as you want for the next 30 days, when all the presentations, panel sessions, and Expo Pavilion booths will be available archived on demand!  You certainly can’t beat that for the very low prices below – make sure to get your discount:

Registration fee is $99 for the 2 live days plus 30 days of archived content, with the following discounts:

* $49 equals a 50% discount for Early Bird Registration (which ends on August 10, 2011) and for participating non-profit organizations, professional association members, and government entities;

* $25 for students/faculty and government professionals;

* Free to accredited media.  See details here.

We open up Pre-Registration tonight at midnight, July 20, 2011. Pre-Register by August 10, 2011 and receive the 50% off Early Bird Registration rate AND qualify to win an Apple iPad2!  Actually, we’re giving away two iPad2’s.

See the official Rules & Regulations here, but basically, we’ll choose one random winner from the Early Bird Registrations and one from attendees who have been the most active using the SCN, including visiting our very important sponsor and exhibitor booths at the Expo Pavilions!  Swipe your Virtual Badge at each exhibitor booth you visit to increase your chances.

Speaking of sponsors, we’re very happy to have TREMCO on board as our top dog, the Rare Earth Sponsor!

We’re just starting to encourage sponsor and exhibitor participation, and many opportunities exist at very affordable pricing.  If you’re interested – and if you’re a manufacturer, supplier, or provider of professional services within our industry you should be – just contact Aramis for a Sponsor/Exhibitor Prospectus at: virtual@greenroofs.com.  Setting up your booth is pretty easy, and we’ll handle everything.

Are you an industry related non-profit, professional association, or government entity promoting greenroofs & walls?  You can exhibit for free in the Expo’s “Associates Pavilion!”  Associates’ booths are not manned live, but are available on demand to inform visitors of everything these very important organizations do.  Find out what they are doing by downloading their videos, PDF’s, website info and more.

AND, as a participating Associate, you can offer your membership/readers/constituents 50% off the $99 Registration Fee, too.  Contact me for an Associates Prospectus at: Linda@greenroofs.com.

Are you a member of the media?  One representative per company can register for free, see all the presentations, visit all the Expo Pavilion booths, and join in the SCN activities in the Media Lounge.  This is specifically for the media to hang out and for exhibitors, speakers and attendees to visit, too.  You can post info about your company, interview/chat with people, and blog away.  Just let me know if you’re interested.

Stay up to date with our social media sites where you can help us get the word out:

Follow us on our Twitter page and we encourage you to tweet to your followers using our event hashtag, #virtualsummit2011.

Visit our LinkedIn Event page and share the event info with your connections and networks.

Like our Facebook page and help us promote it to your fans.

Subscribe to our YouTube GreenroofsTV Channel.

And, feel free to visit our Downloads page with Event Banner Ads for you to post and share, too.

I’ll be blogging a lot in the next few weeks telling you more about our fantastic speakers and the various features of the Virtual Summit, and how you can specifically make the most of your virtual experience here with what to expect, tips, and best practices.  Visit the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 website here.

The virtual platform will never replace the meet and greet or the wonderful tours aspect of physical conferences, but it’s a great, inexpensive, and fun way to connect and interact with far-flung associates from around the world!  And come on, people, video chatting is becoming the way of the world!

See you on August 23rd!

~ Linda V.

I’m pleased to say that Greenroofs.com has been included in the ConstructionManagementDegree.com’s “Top 50 Green Construction Blogs.”  I never thought of us as a construction blog per se, but we’ll take it!

A website serving educational purposes, Chase Gugenheim created ConstructionManagmentDegree.com in 2010:

“My mission for creating the website came when I was searching for the right school to get my degree in construction management. After spending time on numerous websites and researching what programs was the right fit, I decided to make a site that had all the information in one place.  After compiling loads of research, I was able to organize and confine this data to a complete list of schools that offer a degree in construction management, along with a link to basic information about the program. Hopefully this site will allow future students to have an easy and broad list of schools when choosing the right campus.” ~ Chase Gugenheim

Which takes me back…kinda sounds like me back in 1999 when we started Greenroofs.com from my University of Georgia independent research paper “Greenroof Technology: A Viable Roofing System and Appropriate Tool for Addressing Urgent Ecological Development Issues.”  That’s when our website was also simply serving educational purposes, and looked like this (our format changed in 2003 to an online media and marketing company focus):

When we changed formats, the paper became “Greenroofs 101” which was meant to be a living research document:

So in any case, Chase says that all things green – especially sustainable design – have been in the spotlight for a long time now, and the construction industry is no exception.  With this blog post, he has celebrated this spirit of innovation by highlighting the top 50 green construction blogs “Written by everyone from government officials to individuals building their own dream green home, they have loads to offer on tips, planning, what to expect, LEED certification, and much more.”

He’s compiled a pretty formidable list of green online resources that you should keep handy.  Their Top 50 List includes six categories:

Top Green Architecture Blogs (a favorite of ours, Inhabitat, is #1);  Top Green Home Construction Blogs (another favorite,JetsonGreen, is # 13); Top Local Green Construction Blogs; Top Green Construction Blogs by an Individual; Top Green Construction Blogs by a Group; and Top Specialty Green Construction Blogs – where we fall in along with fave’s GreenBiz.com, BuildingGreen.com and TreeHugger.com.  Here’s what ConstructionManagmentDegree.com says about us:

Top Specialty Green Construction Blogs: These green construction blogs deal with a specific aspect of it.

47. Greenroofs
Stop here for a virtual resource portal to green roofing. In addition to a project of the week, there are also related videos to watch. There are also options for students and job seekers.

Of course, we’re more than that, but it’s a great start and we’re in some pretty nice company!

Construction management is really one area where we greenroof and greenwall professionals certainly would welcome a professional with green credentials on board our design team, don’t you agree?  Kudos and thanks to Chase and his academic and perhaps future entrepreneurial start up!  We wish you and your website the best in this brand new year.

~ Happy Greening,

Linda V.

The Greenroofs.com 2011 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar is ready for sale!  Download our Press Release here.

As you know if you’ve been following us for a while (this is our 4th year of printing), the Greenroofs & Walls of the World 2011 Calendar™ combines two of our most popular destinations on Greenroofs.com: The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database and Upcoming Events.  It’s a great way to showcase fabulous projects and our website Sponsors, our highest level of advertising.

Newly redesigned by Caroline Menetre, 2011 has a sleeker look ~ her years in graphic design have helped us present a more streamlined calendar that is still bursting with colorful glossy photos of awesome projects plus all the international green events you could ever plan on attending in one year.

Also new for 2011 is the inclusion of greenwalls ~ the newest architectural darling in the living architecture world.  And as always, our Calendar is eco-friendly, printed on 50% recycled paper with 25% post consumer waste using soy inks.

Building types are represented with projects from single and multi-family residences and the corporate world to an airport cargo facility, botanical garden, hospital, community college, municipal, federal research library, and even an elevated green street!

Check out the projects highlighted for 2011:

Pricing: Only $12.95 which includes free shipping within the contiguous United States and Canada – and we have discounts for orders of 11 calendars and above.  Remember that shipping rates will vary with international destinations.  Visit our Calendar page for all the specifics and ordering information here.

If you’re attending the the 8th Annual Green Roof and Green Wall Conference – CitiesAlive! in Vancouver, B.C. on November 30 – December 3, 2010, the first 50 visitors to stop by the Greenroofs.com booth (#416) will receive a free Calendar, so make sure to stop by early!  When we’re out we’ll be offering them for sale at a special Conference rate of only $10 – first come, first served.  Afterwards, of course, the Calendar will be available for purchase and shipping at any time.

Special thanks go to our participating Sponsors in the 2011 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar:  Barrett Company, Express Blower, Green Living Technologies, Green Roof Blocks, GreenGrid, LiveRoof, Roofscapes, Saul Nurseries, Tremco, Xero Flor America, and ZinCo-USA.

And thanks to all of the rest of Greenroofs.com’s Sponsors who weren’t featured this year, but whose support makes our website possible (along with all of you who are listed in The Greenroof Directory):

American Hydrotech, Conservation Technology,
and International Leak Detection

The 2011 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar will make a perfect holiday gift for you, your staff, and your green architecture like-minded friends and family, so order now in time for all the upcoming holidays and the new year.

Enjoy and happy greening!

~ Linda V.

2010 marks the fourth year of our ”Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design” – download the Press Release here. 

Compiled by our Design Editor, Haven Kiers, and I, this year’s list of categories represents amazing examples of both vegetated roofs and walls since the concept of “Building Integrated Greenery” knows no boundaries, and in fact blurs the distinction between a structure’s various planes.

As usual, we search the globe for the new and newsworthy and look for common threads among the most-often times spectacular and uncommon, projects.  Our favorite sites are Inhabitat, designboom®, ArchDaily, JETSON GREEN… just to name a few – and we also get project news from the designers themselves, as well as members of organizations such as Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the International Green Roof Association, Livingroofs.org, etc., in addition to our own Greenroofs.com readers!

The focus of the Top 10 Trends of 2010 illustrates global shifts in thinking about how we can manipulate the built environment through design to lessen its burden on the Earth’s climate, energy, and natural resources, and increase the overall productivity of our built structures.  Showcased are simply stunning and important built projects, those that are still on the boards, and several amazing, beyond forward-thinking conceptual designs that hopefully will materialize in the future!

Without further ado:

2010 HOT TRENDS in GREENROOF & GREENWALL DESIGN
Top 10 List

10) Client Specific ‘Boutique’ Greenroofs
We’ve had this category each year, and it’s kind of a catch all for projects that are too unique to fit into their own category

9) Green Sporting Venues
From construction jobs, to parking, ticket sales, and concessions revenue, sporting venues bring in big bucks to a community and can be the lifeblood of a local economy. It should come as no surprise, then, that the trend in sporting venue construction is high end and green to attract an upscale clientele while simultaneously bringing in government subsidies. New baseball  & soccer stadiums, basketball arenas, tennis centers and even Olympic stadiums are sporting greenroofs these days.

8) A Symbiosis of Ecology & Architecture
It’s not enough to just design beautiful buildings any more. These days, structures need to be aesthetically stunning, sustainable. and more. Form still follows function, but we’re finding ways to design with nature, not just on top of it.

7) Greenwalls as Public Art
We’ve seen greenwalls used to advertise products, feed the homeless, and remove particulate matter from the air, but what about greenwalls as objects of art, themselves? Vegetated murals are the newest form of public art.

6) Daylighting Greenroofs
If there’s anything we’ve learned from the green building movement, it’s the importance of natural light to reduce energy consumption, connect people to the outdoors, and improve employee & student satisfaction and productivity. Pairing skylights and windows with greenroofs is the natural next step in sustainable design.

5) The Greening of Latin America
European, Asian and North American greenroofs have hogged the spotlight for long enough. Slowly but steadily, greenroofs and greenwalls have been sprouting up throughout Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America – all with a unique, local Latin flair.

4) Building Integrated Greenery for a Cooler Planet
We all know that vegetation helps cool buildings, and designers are taking it to a new level. Building Integrated Greenery – greenwalls and greenroofs – are increasingly integrated with sustainable building design to naturally manufacture cool air that reduces the need for energy hogs like air conditioners.

3) Biomimicry as Eco-literacy & Holistic Design
Designers are increasingly taking the lead from Mother Nature by creating structures that operate like natural organisms. Biomimicry informs the public by incorporating principles from the natural world into the design and function of buildings.

2)  Megacities & Redevelopment Enveloped in Green
What more can we say?  Designers and city planners are thinking bigger and greener!

1) Tower Oases as Skyrise Urban Ag
Last year our #1 category was “Towers of Power” – Mega Vertical Structures Linking Earth and Skywhich blurred the distinction between greenroofs and greenwalls.

For 2010 we continue on that theme – burgeoning populations and rapid urbanization are making vertical urban agriculture hot these days.  Most of these visionary projects are still in the conceptual phase, but with the support of governments and the exploding imagination of designers, building integrated agriculture is well on its way to becoming a towering urban reality.

I presented the 2010 Top 10 a couple of weeks ago in Mexico City at the WGIN World Green Roof Congress (an awesome conference – more on that later!), and will be presenting it next week in Singapore for the 2010 International Skyrise Greenery Conference, and both Haven and I will be hand for the 8th Annual 2010 Green Roof and Green Wall Conference – CitiesAlive! in Vancouver, B.C. in December.   Because of the time limitations for presenting at these conferences, ranging from 20 – 30 minutes, we can only show 4 or 5 representative projects in each category, although there are many more out there!

You can view the 2009, 2008 and 2007 PowerPoint presentations of the Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof Design, and we’ll be posting our 2010 PowerPoint in mid December, where we’ll post additional projects, too, for our newly titled “Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design.”

Happy Greening!

~ Linda V. and Haven K.