From mud thatch to clay tile, roofing materials are about as varied as the houses underneath them. But with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, St. Joseph’s University students will test the limits of green roofing materials, trying out everything from gravel to plastic-based fabric to recycled sneaker rubber. By building an expansive green roof on the deck of the University’s Science Center, St. Joes associate dean of Natural Science, Math and Computer Science Mike McCann will monitor the drainage of four different green roof sections to see which performs best.
“A big goal with the green roof project is public dissemination,” says McCann. “What we want to do is be able to tell anyone who is looking to do a green roof in this area of the country ‘here is some performance data that might help guide your design.’ “
This grant will also fund a study of switchgrass cultivation. Widely thought to be an excellent source of biofuels, switchgrass growth may be impacted by climate change. Through university study and field research at National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research site Konza Prairie, near Manhattan, Kan. students will examine the effects of changes in precipitation, temperature, and carbon dioxide on the growth of switchgrass to see if it may one day become a sustainable fuel source. McCann and the St. Joe’s brass hope these projects will help formally establish their proposed Institute for Environmental Stewardship.
“We expect development communities to be very interested as well as people looking at global climate change impacts,” says McCann. “But this grant is going to support undergraduate and graduate students engaged in these projects. We are not doing this to train switchgrass researchers. We are doing this to train sustainable researchers to do all sorts of jobs.”
Source: Mike McCann, St. Joseph’s University
Writer: John Steele
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