Here’s one roof with no fire hazard.  In coordination with Aqualok, the technology provider, dc greenworks designed and installed a roof for this firehouse that will capture water across 2200 square feet.  As a test site for water quality, only half the installation is planted, but the entire set of Aqualok trays will provide benefits in terms reduction of rainwater runoff and energy costs, reducing the need for AC and heat in the second floor dormitory below.

DC Boot Camp Print Flyer – June 2012

The KIPP DC WILL Academy now features 128 square feet of raised vegetable gardens adjacent to the main entrance along P Street in NW DC.  This is the second KIPP DC charter school with whom dc greenworks has partnered, along with Chef Spike of Good Stuff Gardens, Organic Mechanics, and Old City Green.  After planting a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, dcg staff and Chef Spike spoke to the students on the importance of  nutrition, fresh food, and other ingredients in a healthy lifestyle.

Who says you cannot get creative on your rooftop? Take it from these Virginia homeowners who, with their architect, designed their 920 square foot roofscape featuring a gravel walkway reminiscent of garden paths.  Sitting atop their new addition which includes a kitchen and sun room, this split-level green roof considerably cools the added new living space.  Portable seating is planned for the upper roof terrace to enjoy the nature behind the house.

This 1400 square foot installation is part of the larger sustainability initiative at the University of the District of Columbia, including a plaza renovation that will increase campus permeability.  Working with Consys, the general contractor for the broader renovation, dc greenworks designed and installed a garden that will serve as one focal point and overlook for the campus. The garden is a regressed installation consisting of Liriope, Pennsylvania sedge, and an Aqualok system, and will grow through the metal grates of the deck overlooking the plaza.  The plaza itself is the roof for an existing parking garage.

Here’s the Letter to the Editor that we submitted today.  This in response to an editorial that appeared in the NYT last week, which you can read here:

Regarding the March 15 editorial, “A Greener Approach to Runoff”, we also applaud New York City’s $2.4 billion commitment to green infrastructure announced last week.  In combination with conventional grey infrastructure, green infrastructure is always more cost-effective than a grey only-solution, and it offers triple bottom-line benefits that grey infrastructure cannot.  We think it curious, however, that the Times’ estimates for overflow reduction through green infrastructure are only “5% or so”; with Philadelphia aiming to achieve a majority of its CSO reduction through green infrastructure over the next 25 years, perhaps New York is setting its sights too low.

- dc greenworks

The new Wangari Gardens at Irving and Kenyon streets in NW DC will be hosting its 1st community workday this Sunday, March 18, and dcg will be providing technical assistance to the project.  The startup, named for Kenyan activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, is a coup for community garden advocates who face a daunting array of agency and legal hoops.  dcg will be providing assistance in the installation of above ground cisterns and other green infrastructure features on the site, which, at 2.7 acres, is itself a major piece of green and pervious infrastructure.  For more read here

DC is going back to the future, and that future may have a green roof.  Here’s a look at the revision of DC’s zoning code, both a throwback to a more walkable era and an update of the 1958 law currently in effect.  Updates that could make DC the second city in the US, after Seattle, to implement a Green Area Ratio for large buildings.  For more, read here.

Your RiverSmart barrel makes you part of a broader runoff reduction program in DC, and rain barrels are just a piece.  Read about rain gardens in Petworth, a $3.5 million pilot program targeting 51 homeowners, here.