Vegetation blankets can be used to create green roofs, but they aren’t limited to just that.
A vegetation blanket consists of a layer of fiber covered in a substrate on which plant life can live; with various plant species growing on it.
These blankets can be used to cover roofs, roundabouts, sound barrier walls, and embankments – to name a few. They can literally be rolled up for transport and then unrolled on top of the surface you wish to cover.
Due to their flexibility, they are also versatile and can lie over a curved roof, a sloping surface, or just about any otherwise awkward area. They are light-weight, insulating, and low-maintenance.
What’s more, they are quite eco-friendly. A green roof can be used to absorb and evaporate water runoff that would otherwise be wasted – or even worse, that would flood sewer systems and pollute rivers (as is the case in Portland, Oregon, for example).
Furthermore, a roof which is covered in live vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen, thus helping to restore balance on a carbon-heavy planet that currently needs all the vegetation and plant life we can put on it.
While I work with a traditional roofer, we’ve been working on quite a few eco-friendly roofing systems recently. I hope to learn more about vegetation blankets in the future, since they are few and far between in the urban areas where we currently operate.
@Dena – I agree – there seems to be plenty of room for expansion where vegetation blankets are concerned. What types of eco-friendly roofing systems have you worked on?