Roof Garden & Green Roofs

Do these terms mean the same thing? Many people ask or assume they are the same. And depending on the resources you read, they might indeed tell you that a Green Roof is a Garden Roof.

A green roof basically reduces energy by using green technology. Some refer to white being the new green, because most green roofs have some form of white coating or layer on the surface to reduce heat. Most roof systems have very low emissivity and very low albedo which results in high surface temperatures and elevated conductive heat transfer. Especially in roof systems with black surfaces, that absorbs heat. A green roof will reflect heat, which in return will decrease the heating and cooling cost. Many also refer to green roofs as cool roofs, because they keep the roof “cool”.

A roof garden is different from a green roof, although the two terms are often incorrectly used. A roof garden or garden roof is just that a living growing garden on a roof. While most roofs would be in bad shape if plants were growing on top of them, a roof garden is designed to do so.