Thursday, November 16, 2006

Green homeworking/shedworking

Shedworkers are greener workers. A study of homeworking civil servants in Sheffield revealed that they used half the energy of their unfortunate office-based colleagues in working hours.

But you can go one step further and turn your shed roof into a mini patch of garden. Green roofs are cheap, look really nice when the flowers are blooming and also:
* provide good insulation
* absorb air pollution
* reduce noise levels

The most popular type are sedum roofs, often described as a ‘living carpet’. Sedums are small plants with chubby leaves and stems and they don’t mind
the lousy growing conditions of a roof. You can plant a sedum roof almost anywhere but your roof does need to be quite strong since after a downpour it can weigh about 85kg per square metre. It also can’t be too slanty, only up to a roof pitch of around 30 degrees.

For more information go to www.livingroofs.org or www.roofgardens.com where you can take a 3D tour of the marvellous Derry and Toms roof garden on Kensington High Street.

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