In an inspired demonstration of its commitment to the environmental cause, ESRI Canada unveiled its new green roof yesterday, a lush carpet of native plants, grasses and evergreens that now blankets the rooftop at 12 Concorde Place in Toronto.
ESRI’s garden grew out of environmental sensitivity developed through 25 years of experience working with forestry and environmental clients in Canada and beyond, and through broad research into energy management, which is a key concern of the utilities that represent a more recent customer vertical for the company’s enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions. Through this research, ESRI learned that in addition to the energy efficiencies that can be achieved through smart grid and related technologies, significant energy savings can be realized by “greening” our cities – and specifically, that the urban heat island effect (heat radiated by cities’ concentrated energy use) can be reduced through the construction of green roof tops. in A In developing its green plans, ESRI made use of conclusions provided in a Ryerson University
study, “
The Environmental Benefits and Costs of Green Roof Technology,” which calculated that if 25% of the commercial building roof tops in Toronto were planted, the heat island effect could be reduced by .5 degrees C.
