Your Building’s Roof GOES GREEN: Germany’s Green Roof Services speaks to Rensselaer’s Engineering Community

"Why haven't we seen more local companies installing green roofs like yours here?" was one of many great questions I heard from the mostly college-aged audience members – with faculty and local business community members also represented - in attendance for yesterday's Green Roof Services, LLC lecture at the Darren Communications Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, New York.

The presentation was given by Peter Philippi, a twenty-five year veteran Design and Architectural Engineer, and was jointly sponsored by the college's student section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and RPI's Student Sustainability Task Force (SSTF).

Mr. Philippi was born and has worked for most of his career in Germany, where he graduated from the Technical University of Munich in 1981. He now has projects across the U.S., his most notable among them at Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore colleges, and at the County Building, Bronx Borough of New York City.

At Left: A Childrens' Kindergarten in Sindelfingen, Germany (near Stuttgart). Photo courtesy greenroofservice.com.

New York State's versus Germany's "Green" Movements
On this Earth Day, as I was preparing to drive across town - car-pooling with another engineer in the spirit of the day - it was hard not to think a little of the colorful "Greens" – official leadership in the global "Green Parties" – that I've personally been following through the years:

There's Grandpa Al (Lewis), of The Munsters fame. In the 1960's U.S. comedy TV show, he played the wise grandfather-vampire for his ghoulish, but lovable, TV family. (photos courtesy Wikipedia)-->

<-- Then there's Malachy McCourt, Ireland-raised humorist, tavern owner and brother to the more famous Frank McCourt, author of "Angela's Ashes".

Now contrast the previous two colorful – and maybe not so serious – men, with Petra Kelly, mother of the German Green movement:

Just by looking at the pictures shown here alone, it becomes apparent that the woman from Germany, who obtained her last name from an American officer step-dad stationed there after the defeat of Germany in World War II, took her cause much more seriously. And so did her fellow citizens of the recovering German Federal Republic, where Petra and her movement became a force – both political and social - to be reckoned with, from the 1970's until her death in 1992.

Who's Environmental Movement is "Greener"? Knowing a little of Petra's story gives the interested person an understanding of why so many "green" companies, like Green Services LLC, are now coming to U.S. shores from across the Atlantic.

To go deeper on this subject, check out Petra's story on Wikipedia or listen to the BBC Radio 4 "Green Gurus" streaming-audio documentary found at the link in the resources section below.

- Larry Kelley

Resources:

http://www.greenroofservice.com/

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/5119/Old-McDonald-is-Moving-To-the-City-To-the-Water-To-the-Sky

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/greengurus.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Kelly