As climate worries grow, cities turn green

(Business 2.0 Magazine) — Green roofs aren’t the future: They’re already here. In Chicago, 2.5 million square feet of downtown roof space is now covered with hardy plants such as sedum and prairie grass–the better to lower heating and air-conditioning costs (by 10 percent or more) and dramatically reduce rainwater runoff.

The Windy City’s rooftops aren’t alone: The total square footage of green roofs in the United States is growing at the healthy rate of 125 percent a year.


Now some entrepreneurs are placing bets on something even more forward-thinking: green walls. “They’re taking off way faster than green roofs,” says Chad Sichello, president and CEO of G-Sky, a Vancouver, British Columbia, company that offers both.

Starting at $100 per square foot, G-Sky will install plant-filled wall panels that can go on any vertical surface–meaning G-Sky just quintupled its opportunity. After all, “for every roof out there, there are four walls,” says Steven Peck, founder of the Toronto- based industry association Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, who says he expects the vertical greenery market to be “huge.”

Business 2.0 Magazine