By Matt Burlin

The ecoroof industry in Portland, Oregon, has been making great strides.  Since 2008, the City of Portland has offered an incentive of $5 per square foot of ecoroof on approved projects.  Over 100 projects have been funded so far for over 8 acres in vegetated roof space, and the funding will be offered twice annually until 2013.  The City now boasts nearly 13 acres of ecoroofs (extensive green roofs) and close to 28 acres of green roofs (intensive and extensive combined).

 
The entire month of March will include ecoroof-themed events and presentations.  During the first week we welcome Dr. Stephan Brenneisen, green roof and biodiversity expert, who will participate in a design charrette and share a presentation on his work in Basel, Switzerland.

There will also be several ecoroof project tours throughout the month that are free and open to the public.  The calendar of events can be found on the City of Portland’s Ecoroof Portland website.

The high point of the month will be the third annual Ecoroof Portland event, which will take place on Friday, March 18, 2011 at the Oregon Convention Center.

The event brings together professionals from throughout the ecoroof industry as well as all business owners, homeowners, and developers with an interest in ecoroofs.  More than 60 local ecoroof designers, landscapers, contractors, architects, consultants, nurseries, suppliers, manufacturers, researchers, non-profits and community groups will be on hand at this free, public event to share their knowledge with Portland citizens about greening our local rooftops to protect our rivers and streams.

(To apply to be a vendor, visit www.portlandonline.com/bes/ecoroofpdx, email Jake at jake@socialenterprises.net or call 503.226.2377 for more information.)

We’re very excited about our keynote speakers for this event.  Wolfgang Ansel, Director of the International Green Roof Association (IGRA), and renowned green roof designer Paul Kephart, of Rana Creek Living Architecture, will headline this year’s program. (Last year we were lucky to have Greenroofs.com’s Linda Velazquez and Emory Knoll Farms’ Ed Snodgrass as our keynote speakers!).

Additional programming includes case studies of high profile ecoroof and green building projects, and live demonstrations with ACE Academy (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) students and faculty.

 ~ Matt Burlin

Matt Burlin is the Outreach Coordinator for Sustainable Stormwater Management with the City of Portland Environmental Services (BES).  Contact Matt at 503.823.7863 or his new email address: matt.burlin@portlandoregon.gov.  Visit the City of Portland’s website for complete info.  You can also stay up to date by liking our facebook page.

Before the second day of Ecoroof Portland’s Vendor Fair and program sessions, Tom Liptan co-led an ecoroof tour starting at 8:30 a.m.  Along with Jason King of TERRA.fluxus, on March 13 the group was comfortably and efficiently transported by ecoShuttle around northeast Portland to see a variety of roofs, below.

The five sites visited on Saturday morning were the Metro Regional Headquarters Ecoroof and Yakuza Restaurant (above), K-4 Condominiums (left), and the O’Brien and Omey residences (below).

I’m sorry to say we just couldn’t make ourselves get up early enough to join in!  But our trusty friends Casey Cunningham at the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and Jason shared these photos with us (I hope to add/update these profiles soon to The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database) – by the way, Jason King is a very talented landscape architect here and has been involved with many ecoroof projects, including the Multnomah County Multnomah Building, top photo above.

After the 10:30 Intro to Portland Ecoroof session, Commissioner Dan Saltzman welcomed everyone and spoke about the City’s vision for a sustainable future and some of their ongoing projects.  Then I was introduced as the keynote speaker, sharing my presentation “Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design.”  A compilation of my favorites from the past three years of Haven Kiers, our Design Editor, and my Top 10 List of Hot Design Trends in Greenroof Design, I also added some outstanding projects that will make our Top 10 for 2010 (under construction), including this one below, the $90 million Oregon Sustainability Center, designed by Portland firms SERA Architects and GBD Architects:

Saturday’s first afternoon session was all about case studies – small and large, public and private.  Kevin Falkerson, AIA, and Kerrie Lee Cole, GRP, of SYMBIOS shared their experience of design-based solutions with the Salmon Creek School living roof, from concept through construction and follow-up.  The LEED Platinum Sonoma County, California environmental center has many eco-friendly features, offering the students of this K-8 grade school numerous opportunities for place-based learning – about the ecology of the natural site and the greenroof itself.

The semi-intensive roof sports a diverse palette of non-native and native sedums and succulents, accented with beautiful detail plantings including boulders and rocks.  See a photo gallery here.

Next up was the energetic Walt Quade, a general contractor with Cully Construction Co. (and Green Home Oregon), who built his own energy-conscious, partially underground home with a custom-designed 1,490 sf greenroof in north Portland.  He also started from research to conception through several design options, before deciding on the one that would best suit his family’s needs and desires.  Walt not only described the construction process step-by-step, he also provided insights on lessons learned.  His message was clear:  ecoroofs do not need to be a high cost item if you are knowledgeable about products, and they are not that difficult to execute – but you do need to know your limitations and hire professionals when necessary.  See his photo gallery here.

Karl Schultz from the Port of Portland followed with the new sustainable headquarters facility for the Port of Portland at PDX, Portland International Airport.  Situated in front of the terminal which is connected to the parking garage, the 10-floor LEED Gold-designed facility has extensive daylighting, high performance glazing, radiant heating and cooling ceiling, reflective membrane, and a Living Machine – an organic wastewater treatment system that treats wastewater onsite to be used in the building for non-potable uses.

The structure also features an intensive built in place greenroof on the 8th floor and the larger 10,000 sf LiveRoof modular greenroof on top of the 9th floor on the north side installed for rainwater treatment  – both incorporate “adaptive plant Micromist irrigation.”

The final session was the very interesting, informal, and lively ”The Ecoroof Doctors are IN” panel with Tom Liptan, Ed Snodgrass, Patrick Carey, Dave Elkin, and Alice Meyers from the BES Ecoroof Incentive Program.  They offered advice and fielded many questions from architects, homeowners, and designers about a ton of subjects – from which are the best plants to benefits of modular vs. built in place systems to construction details.

Earlier this year, March was declared “Ecoroof Portland” month by Mayor Adams, and the learning and fun didn’t stop with Ecoroof Portland 2010 - here are a few more opportunities to learn what they’re all about from sponsors the Portland Audubon Society, Urban Greenspaces Institute, and the City of Portland (check for space availability):

South Waterfront Ecoroof Tour, March 27th
Green Roofs and Living Walls for Wildlife, March 30th – with one of our perennial favorites, Brit Dusty Gedge of Livingroofs.org 
Downtown Ecoroof Tour, March 31st

We left Portland with a greater understanding of how City employees, from the Mayor to City Commissioners to everyone at BES, view their work.  I felt that the employee buy-in for eco-friendly stormwater management options for a cleaner and greener Portland is just amazing!  It was evident from everyone we met how much they loved their jobs and how strongly they felt that ecoroofs were a real solution.  They really impressed me with their friendliness, professionalism, and dedication – thanks for inviting me!

Oregon is a land of widely different people, places, and ecosystems, and the beautiful City of Roses is always a pleasure to visit.  The City of Portland serves as a shining example to the rest of the U.S. on how municipal government can really work effectively for and with their people to promote healthy, sustainable development.  Ecoroof Portland is a win-win event for everyone here – the citizens, the City employees, and as a result from all the support and financial incentives, the local environment as well.  Stay in touch by visiting the City’s BES website.

~ Linda V.

Since the 1990s, Portland, Oregon, has worked hard to earn its reputation as a sustainable building pioneer.  Very socially conscious, it’s also a very young city in terms of energy and spirit.  As the host of Ecoroof Portland 2010, the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) does a great service to its citizens with this free yearly event with information and technical assistance about ecoroofs – other sponsors included ReDirect Guide, EcoMetro, KXL radio, KINK radio, Portland Business Journal, Left Bank Annex, and ecoShuttle.

A large number of BES staff was on hand to assist, but Matt ran the show.  Matt Burlin is the Outreach Coordinator, Sustainable Stormwater Management, City of Portland Environmental Services, and did an excellent job of organizing and coordinating everything!  Held at the Left Bank Annex close to the Rose Quarter, Ecoroof Portland was easily accessible by public transportation, and in fact, the city encouraged folks to do just that.  The industrial urban space venue was chock full of environmentally friendly features including great daylighting, recycling bins everywhere, and water conservation features in the restrooms.

The program provided options for all levels of sophistication – beginner, professional, researcher, and those who were ready to put an ecoroof on their own house or commercial structure.  Friday started out at a very civil 10:30, with ”An Introduction to Ecoroofs in Portland” given by Matt and Amy Chomowicz (also offered on Saturday morning).  Attendees heard about general ecoroof information – how they work, why they’re important, and what resources are available in Portland to help you get started on your own project to gain skills and experience in the industry.

 
The Vendor Fair was open at 10:00, and I was surprised to see how full both the intro session and exhibitor area was for a Friday morning.  We skipped the intro and perused the trade show on the main floor, mingling with old friends and meeting new ones.

These regional expos are so important for a variety of reasons, and it also gives us an opportunity to meet with local reps of some of our advertisers, too, and learn about business in their neck of the woods – we connected with “new” folks from Tremco, Tournesol Siteworks, American Hydrotech, Xero Flor America, GreenGrid, ILD, and Etera Green Roof Plants (Northwest Horticulture), below.

I was pleased that there was such a high number of professional firms exhibiting among the manufacturers and suppliers, for example landscape architects Lando & Associates Landscape Architecture(who have worked on many ecoroofs here including The Metro Headquarters Greenroof) and Walker Macy (who worked on the Platinum LEED OHSU CHH building, among others).  Architects, consultants, contractors, structural engineers, and researchers also had booths.

In addition to product and service vendors, non-profit organizations and community organizations were also here including the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities booth, which was manned by Patrick Carey, a trainer for all of the courses needed to get your GRP designation – the 101, 201, 301 and 401.

And it was great to see Ecoroofs Everywhere and meet Greg Haines, above left, after all these years (who used to work at BES, seen with Matt, right).  Greg has been installing ecoroofs in Portland since 2002 when he co-founded Ecoroofs Everywhere as a non-profit organization (since 2007 it has been a for-profit partnership).  Of course, the City of Portland had booths to answer questions about their Ecoroof Grant Program (they gave out beautiful posters) and WorkingGreenPortland.com, a website and tool to educate and motivate people about site specific stormwater management options, and city grants and incentives for each.

At noon, Environmental Services Director Dean Marriott welcomed everyone, gave us a quick update on the Ecoroof Grant program and introduced the keynote speaker, Ed Snodgrass.  Ed, in his usual laid back and affable way, presented “Ecosystem Services: How Ecoroofs Contribute to Sustainable Cities” sharing his thoughts on how greenroofs add benefits to our highly sealed urban areas by mimicking natural processes within the bigger picture.  He showed multiple examples of how the natural technologies of plants and soil protect the environment, economy, and equity in cities through connecting living roofs, rain gardens, porous paving/vegetated parking lots and other systems, while providing stormwater management, energy reduction, cooling properties, treatment of graywater and sewage, wildlife habitat and more – for example the corporate campus of Mercedes-Benz, below, a model of sustainability.

Next came current research and monitoring efforts specific to the area. Portland State University (PSU) graduate student Debbie Beck gave a presentation on “Greenroof Soil and Water Quality – Changes in Runoff Water Quality When Biochar is Mixed into a Greenroof Soil.”  Growing media needs to be designed to ensure low concentrations of nutrients in stormwater runoff; biochar is a soil amendment made from the pyrolysis of waste products, ranging from biomass to tires in a carbon-net-negative process.  It was evaluated for its ability to retain nutrients in greenroof soils, and Debbie also presented findings on its cleansing properties.

Tim Kurtz, PE, from the City of Portland BES talked about ”Stormwater Monitoring of Three Ecoroofs in Portland, Oregon” explaining that although ecoroofs have become a primary option for reducing roof runoff into sewers and streams, at present they’re all treated the same, regardless of growing media depth or composition.  Data was presented from the Hamilton Apartments, the Multnomah County Multnomah Building, and the Portland Building, above, to determine which greenroof design and maintenance variables are most important to maximize stormwater retention.

 And featured speaker Dr. David Sailor from PSU presented “Energy Performance of Ecoroofs – the Role of the Roof in Affecting Building Energy and the Urban Atmospheric Environment” – enlightening us how energy analysis of ecoroof performance requires sophisticated techniques and that complex energy balances on vegetative roofs vary from time of day and season to season.  Dr. Sailor concluded with his initial results of studies involving both greenroofs and photovoltaics, with a focus on potential system interactions and synergies.  His findings clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the two technologies working together – the plants fare better with some shading from the harsh sun and the panels perform better from a cooler rooftop.

“Portland’s Shift to a Sustainable Future: The Role of Ecoroofs” took over the late Friday afternoon session with an interactive panel featuring Dan Vizzini of City of Portland Environmental Services, Tom Puttman of David Evans and Associates, and Tom Liptan, ASLA, Ecoroof Technical Program Manager with BES.  Fourteen years after ecoroof guru Liptan installed his own atop his garage, the City continues to boost implementation of green infrastructure practices, including a target of 43 acres of ecoroofs by 2013. The panelists discussed their evolution from “grey to green” and how these changes will influence the fabric of their city.

At 6:00 pm the Vendor Fair was closed to the public, and the City provided a lovely reception for the exhibitors and speakers.  This casual gathering and networking opportunity was a great time just to relax a bit.  Matt and Linda Dobson (she manages BES’s Stormwater Team) welcomed Portland Mayor Sam Adams and it was easy to understand the city’s success with their ecoroof initiatives – you could feel the Mayor’s pride, commitment and passion for their projects and staff.  He extended an open invitation to all to embrace sustainable business practices and sustainable design, and let us know that the City was looking into funding low interest loans.  He also informed us that he was talking up the challenge to green his own garage roof, à la Tom Liptan!

Tom Liptan then introduced me in such a nice way, reminiscing about my student days at UGA and how I called him back in 1998 wanting to know all about his garage greenroof and what could we do to promote these earth-friendly roof covers.  I presented a short demo of The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database – how it began with my 1999 research study when I initially had about 30 case studies, to how it’s grown to 1,023 at the moment; why I felt the industry needed an open, free resource for compiling and maintaining a clearing house of sorts.

Ed was up next and Tom also shared his funny recollections of meeting him several years ago.  Ed showed some very unique and interesting” Greenroofs from Around the World” with a fast-paced show of his highlight reel.

Afterwards we were off to the richly decorated Alu Wine Bar for a glass of a spectacular local pinot noir (2007 Arterberry Maresh from Dundee Hills, OR) with a bevy of BES people.  From there Aramis, Ed and I met Patrick and Brian Heather, GRP, from SolTerra for dinner at the very funky and famous Cajun Montage – quite a noisy and fun local favorite!  Patrick and Brian have been collaborating on various projects in Portland and Seattle, and we topped the evening off with a visit to the mixed-use SolTerra offices to see some of their innovative handiwork.  SolTerra provides a variety of services and products for the solar, ecoroof, and living wall markets, and what we saw looked very impressive!

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up our visit and experiences at Ecoroof Portland 2010 ~ Linda V.

I’m a little late for profiling last week’s Greenroof Project of the Week (GPW), the stunning Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Center for Health & Healing (CHH) - because we were in Portland last week for Ecoroof Portland, which I’ll be blogging about next.  I’ve been a fan of this project for a few years – in 2008 Haven Kiers and I included it in the #1 category for our Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof Design, “The Influence of LEED on Design Professionals = Pushing the Green Envelope,” and as a judge for the 2009 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ Green Roof Design Awards of Excellence, I had the pleasure of reviewing it in detail (unfortunately, it was beat out by the awesome Gary Comer Youth Center).

The Oregon Health & Science University is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life for all Oregonians through excellence, innovation and leadership in health care, education and research.  One of the largest employers in a city and a state known worldwide for leadership and dedication to conservation and the environment, OHSU’s CHH building represents the state-of-the-art in integrative design, involving the hard work and input of many multi-disciplinary professionals.

Located in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood, the award-winning 16-story, 400,000 sf OHSU Center for Health & Healing is one of the first buildings to rise from this former shipyard site and the first building in their new River Campus.  The Center for Health & Healing is the most resource efficient large scale building in the region, and one of the greenest in the U.S.  A mixed-use facility for wellness, medical research, clinics, surgery, classrooms and ground floor retail, in 2007 it received Platinum LEED certification, making it the first medical and research facility in the world to have achieved this distinction.  The integrated design features this building boasts is amazing (see the profile), and as a result is 61% more energy efficient than required by Oregon code.
 

“This is a remarkable achievement given the complex array of uses and systems that were needed in the building.  We had to capture every opportunity to integrate together function, architecture and engineering.  This is really the result of a great collaborative team effort.  We have set a new standard for OHSU and for other projects in Portland.” ~ David Crawford, chief financial officer of the OHSU Medical Group (press release).

The Center is linked to Marquam Hill by the Portland Aerial Tram, which has proved to be a major success. According to OHSU, this highly efficient passenger conveyance between their facilities is estimated to eliminate 2 million vehicle miles and 93,000 gallons of gasoline annually, and reduce yearly greenhouse emissions by more than 1,000 tons.

OHSU CHH has both extensive greenroofs (or ecoroofs) and intensive greenroofs (roof gardens), with a mixture of public and private accessibility. 

Non-accessible ecoroofs include those found on the 17th floor, and staff-only extensive gardens and office accessible balconies located off the 15th and 16th floors, above.

The accessible areas include the day patient area on the 4th floor (above) which opens out onto the restorative garden and the 5th floor (below) which opens out onto the courtyard, a common area and intensive green roof.

“Both programmed for passive recreation, these rooftop gardens allow patients, visitors, staff and faculty to enjoy scenic views of the region, informal social interactions as well as organized gatherings and events.  The roof gardens incorporate paths through lush plantings and benches for seating, offering fresh air and a green oasis as a seasonal topic for the soul amidst the stressful world.” ~ Walker Macy.

We had wanted to visit the building, but were unable to due simply to time restraints.  But we did speak with Laura Herbon, Associate at Walker Macy, the landscape architecture firm who designed the greenroofs (they were exhibiting at Ecoroof Portland).  Walker Macy has broad experience providing dynamic garden design for roof gardens, ecoroofs and courtyards over structures, and their work covers a broad range of sizes and purposes and includes places meant for people to gather and grow gardens as well as sites designed strictly for stormwater management.  The OHSU CHH certainly does both! 

Walker Macy has worked on many ecoroofs in the area, including The Louisa, Mercy Corps Headquarters, Bellevue Towers, and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital - among about 18 others involving greenroofs of some sort.  Macy Walker shared the following info about OHSU’s CHH:

“The green roofs are reducing the peak run-off volumes to the storm sewer, designed to store a minimal amount of water to keep the soil saturated, since the region’s climatic pattern—extremely wet winter and extremely dry summer—generate the volume of stored water that cannot equal the demand and supplemental irrigation that is needed. The stormwater network connects all rooftop gardens and the fertilizers used contain no phosphorous. The OHSU building incorporates both rainwater and groundwater collection systems on the roof and underground, which get mixed with the building’s own gray water and sent to the basement treatment system. Reclaimed water is stored in cisterns before being pumped upstairs or sent outside to irrigate the building’s grounds and rooftop gardens. Excess reclaimed water is piped into the nearby Willamette River.

“OHSU had to obtain a number of special permits to install its state-of-the-art water system, which includes a membrane bioreactor in the basement that basically is a small scale sewage plant. The result is that the building uses 60% less water than most buildings its size, and its outflow to the city sewage pipes is virtually nonexistent. Through the installation of a bioreactor on site, the building cleans 15,000 gallons of wastewater a day. Constructing the water system was expensive, despite a $50,000 grant from the Portland Office of Sustainable Development and more than $500,000 in system development charges the city waived because the building does not outflow into city sewage. OHSU estimates the system will not pay back its initial costs for at least 10 years. Meanwhile, the building’s $12,000 annual water bill is considerably less than the $80,000 to $100,000 bill OHSU estimates it would have paid without the water reclamation system. The CHH generates 2.1 million gallons annually in potable water savings.

“After deducting tax credits and other financial incentives, the green premium for this building was a mere 1.13% of the total project cost. The facility’s return on investment will be just over one year, after which the energy savings are projected to be $600,000 annually.”

Wow! The Oregon Health & Science University Center for Health & Healing embraces all that a green building should be: energy and resource efficient and good for the soul, all while providing beautiful and peaceful aesthetics.  For additional information on this LEED Platinum building and how the greenroofs tie into the whole system, review this thorough case study document produced by OHSU design team member Interface Engineering (you can also see the LEED Scorecard) or contact Walker Macy.

~ Linda V.

Known as “The Rose City” for its famous yearly Rose Festival and The Grand Floral Parade in early June, Portland Oregon could also be easily known as “The Eco City” or perhaps even “The Green City” because of their ongoing commitment to preserving their magnificent waterways and forests while promoting sustainable design and development through progressive urban policies and public outreach.  The last time we were there was for the 2nd Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards & Trade Show in 2004.  And we spent some time here in late 2003 when I was compiling info for my Sky Gardens ~ Travels in Landscape Architecture column on the area.  Such a beautiful city!

On March 12-13, the lovely City of Portland will be sponsor and host to their annual free Ecoroof Portland.  What an amazing city for supporting greenroofs – or ecoroofs, as they refer to them here.  Currently with about 200 projects within the city, ecoroofs cover about 10 acres, leading the U.S. in total area greened after Chicago.  And they were one of the first, if not the first, municipality in the nation to offer incentives.  As part of the Grey to Green Initiative, the City of Portland is offering an incentive of up to $5 per square foot for ecoroofs towards a target of 43 additional acres by 2013.  In the past year, the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) awarded the incentive to 50 projects for a total of over 4 acres.  Read more in Industry Support and the City’s Incentive Project Page for more information. You can visit ecoroofs and other sustainable stormwater projects in Portland with these self-guided tours, and the City maintains an Ecoroof Blog, which is very informative, too!

The premier champion there of stormwater mitigation, and ecoroofs in particular, is Tom Liptan, ASLA.  I’ve known Tom for over 12 years, when I first contacted him about greenroofs back when I was a landscape architecture student at UGA a had “discovered” them myself.  Gracious, kind, and accommodating, he nurtured and fueled my passion for this earth-friendly sustainable technology.  And Tom has always put his money where his mouth is – he installed one of the first ecoroofs in Portland atop his garage in 1996.  The now famous Liptan Garage Greenroof served as early a demonstration project and testing grounds for a variety of factors – read more in the profile.

Designed to inform a varied audience of professionals and homeowners, the lineup of speakers will educate and inspire you to consider a greenroof on your next project.  A Vendor Fair with over 60 professionals and organizations will be on-hand both days to share their ecoroof experience, products, and services.  Featured speakers include Dr. David J. Sailor, Ed Snodgrass, and me!  Dr. Sailor is a full professor at the Mechanical and Materials Engineering faculty at Portland State University, Member Faculty of the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST), and directs Portland State University’s Green Building Research Laboratory.  Ed Snodgrass is co-owner of Emory Knoll Farms/Green Roof Plants, a fifth generation farmer and nurseryman specializing in plants and horticultural consulting for greenroofs.  An accomplished speaker and writer (“Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide”), he’s also our Plant Editor who writes his occasional column “Ask Ed“  – read my “From Llamas to Greenroofs: An Interview with Ed Snodgrass.”  See full profiles here and a complete list of all the speakers and Agenda here.

See Ed on Friday at 12:00 pm at the Welcome and Keynote Address where Environmental Services Director Dean Marriott will welcome attendees and introduce Ed as the Keynote Speaker.  His presentation will focus on the role of ecoroofs in sustainable cities.  On Saturday at noon, Commissioner Dan Saltzman will welcome attendees and introduce me – I will be presenting “Hot Trends in Greenroof Design,” a compilation of my favorite international projects from our Top 10 Lists from the past with a look at some of the new, innovative, leading vanguard and projects for 2010.  On Saturday at 4:00 pm Ed will be part of a panel where you can get some help getting started on your own ecoroof project – “The Ecoroof Doctors are IN,” along with Tom Liptan, David Elkin, and Alice Meyers from BES, and Patrick Carey of hadj design, a Green Roofs for Healthy Cities trainer, and our Architecture Editor.  Patrick writes an occasional architectural column entitled “A View from the Sky Trenches,” where he selects and discusses pertinent greenroof industry topics.

Don’t miss Ecoroof Portland!  It will run on Friday and Saturday, March 12 & 13, 2010 at the Leftbank Annex, located at 101 N. Weidler St in downtown Portland.  It’s very close to the Rose Quarter – you can find directions by clicking the following link.  Learn all about Ecoroof Portland 2010 at the City’s BES website.

If you can attend, please stop by and say hello!  Happy greening,

~ Linda V.