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Green roofs are a familiar concept among high-performance building designers and other EcoGeeks, but what about a mobile green roof moving through a city? A project called Bus Roots takes the idea of green roofs and installs it on a bus. The project is the graduate thesis of NYU student Marco Antonio Castro Cosio. A mobile science lab called Bio Bus is the host for this project.
The Bus Roots project uses an extensive green roof system similar to that used for buildings and covers the 340 square feet (31.6 square meters) of bus roof with shallow trays of plants in growth media.
Bringing a mobile patch of plants through the city offers a list of potential benefits, including mitigation of heat island effect, CO2 absorbtion, oxygen production, and aesthetic value. For those of you in or around New York City and are planning to attend the MakerFaire at the end of September, the Bio Bus is scheduled to appear at that event, and you may be able to see it in person.
via: GetDowntown
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written by Stephen Colley, September 14, 2012
Due to the nature of vegetated roofs (the majority of which are flat), most people are not aware of their existence. Greening bus roofs is an elegant way to promote the benefits of vegetated roofs. I hope someday soon municipal buses come with a vegetated-ready rooftop. Now I want to install one on my minivan!
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written by Jeff, September 14, 2012
Frankly, I kind of like it as an art project. I wouldn't mind seeing a few of these buses driving around just to catch people's attention and add some flare to an otherwise bland cityscape. But it's not something I think should be done on a large scale.
Once you get past the novelty of it, you realize that you're just making the bus heavier, more expensive, less aerodynamic, and less efficient. You'll end up with more CO2, not less. You'll end up with more solar energy absorption than a white roof, not less. It'll cost more to operate and maintain the bus. So, interesting concept, but not a good idea in the end.
Once you get past the novelty of it, you realize that you're just making the bus heavier, more expensive, less aerodynamic, and less efficient. You'll end up with more CO2, not less. You'll end up with more solar energy absorption than a white roof, not less. It'll cost more to operate and maintain the bus. So, interesting concept, but not a good idea in the end.
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written by K.@DJ Laser, September 15, 2012
this will cost more labour. Why not got for hydro car or electric car?
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written by Adam, September 15, 2012
But make buses out of old shipping containers, add a roof garden, run it on old chip fat and someone like @treehugger will cream their pants.
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written by Steven , September 15, 2012
As Jeff said, this idea is laden with poor efficiency. Carrying extra weight doesn't affect fuel economy as much when you're moving at a constant rate but NYC buses usually stop and go (even excluding traffic lights) every 2-3 blocks. That means a lot more weight to accelerate and decelerate so expect a fraction of their existing fuel economy and expect to replace your brakes and rotors far more frequently.
Furthermore, I wonder how much it would cost to retrofit the roofs of the buses to support the additional weight. I also wonder how the additional weight would affect stability and the risk of roll overs.
Furthermore, I wonder how much it would cost to retrofit the roofs of the buses to support the additional weight. I also wonder how the additional weight would affect stability and the risk of roll overs.
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written by Gifts With Humanity, September 15, 2012
funny idea but does it make sense to use gas to move the garden?
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written by RK, September 15, 2012
Ridiculous. It has no purpose other then an "art" project as stated above. It will just allow more accident causing debris to fly off the roofs of moving buses. Law requires that an open container body hauling organic material be tarped. Oh, we'll overlook that law because it's pretty material. structural issues must be seriously addressed. You don't realize how much weight will be added to the top heavy roof of this bus. Then triple that when it rains. How's the water going to drain, if at all. mold and plenty of it. No it's not a good idea
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written by himi, September 17, 2012
I like the idea, but can they implement it on larger scale?
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written by MAW, September 17, 2012
pointless, it is heavy, and a bus is ugly enough...
you better stay focused on how to improve the bus efficiency, the trajectory, the way people can access it and save energy on that, instead of covering this heavy producer of carbon ...
Why don't you show a lovely landfill covered of grass or the oil split on the US sea side covered of sand with Obama taking a bath on the top of it ?
Typical green-washing, you should be ashamed to broadcast ^^
you better stay focused on how to improve the bus efficiency, the trajectory, the way people can access it and save energy on that, instead of covering this heavy producer of carbon ...
Why don't you show a lovely landfill covered of grass or the oil split on the US sea side covered of sand with Obama taking a bath on the top of it ?
Typical green-washing, you should be ashamed to broadcast ^^
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written by KenZ, September 17, 2012
Lightweighting is the key to improved efficiency. Every pound extra on a vehicle, ESPECIALLY one that starts and stops, derails efficiency. This idea is a friggin' environmental travesty. Even solar panels on the roof do NOT make for efficiency upgrades, even on electric cars as the weight added does not offset the electricity generated. Someone please put this project and the bad environmental math out of its misery.
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written by Kees, September 17, 2012
Lovely art project. No practical application whatsoever. To have a green roof that survives year round you need at least 3" of growing medium, that translates to roughly 5,500 lbs extra when the roof is dry and 7,800 lbs when wet. that is over half of the passenger carrying capacity that has been added in weight alone. Not to mention that salt spray during the winter months will kill all the plants. Now if you want to green roof all the bus shelters that would be a much better idea.
And to comment on an earlier comment about all roofs requiring PV installations: green roofs give a much better bang for the buck than PV unless the feedin tariff is heavily subsedised.
And to comment on an earlier comment about all roofs requiring PV installations: green roofs give a much better bang for the buck than PV unless the feedin tariff is heavily subsedised.
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written by Richard, September 18, 2012
This doesn't make any sense. I can understand it if you place this on a roof of a business, but on a bus serves no usable purpose.
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written by Sara Shafer, September 18, 2012
This is an excellent idea. The tops of vehicles are usually forgotten - this is a great idea to get people to notice such an innovative creation. It would have many benefits but there are some drawbacks to the application. The added weight on the top of the bus, maintenance and protection from unforgivable weather. All-in-all, good idea but requires alot of afterthought.
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written by James, September 19, 2012
Engineer here. This idea is stupid. I can't believe this was even posted on ecogeek. How is this at all fuel-efficient? If they really wanted to make the bus "greener" why not just leave the roof reflective/white, and work on improving the aerodynamics of the body to reduce the Cd so it's not like a brick wall to incoming air? Sure, there are lots of efficiency improvements to be made on a bus, but putting plants on top basically turns it into a huge sailboat.
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written by furburger, September 25, 2012
Why does ecogeek post these ridiculous articles. This is not green, it adds weight and drag to the bus and is possibly a hazard to other road users.
Ecogeek, please publish intelligent articles.
Ecogeek, please publish intelligent articles.
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written by MichaelM, September 26, 2012
Besides the weight objections, I hope no one eats any of the produce until it is tested for pollutants absorbed from the air filled by the exhaust of all the cars, trucks, etc.
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written by Scott, September 26, 2012
Wow lots of people not happy with this. We really don't have enough info to judge this. I have used some very light weight growth medium. If would help if we knew how heavy this whole thing is. Regardless rain will make it heavy. Then we would need to know how much the plants on this thing average on things like CO2 absorption. Compare that to the extra fuel spent moving it around. I would love to see the math but my gut tells me this wastes more then a help. Perhaps the added awareness of green roofs for all those NYC flat top roofs that dont move will make this worth it.
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written by Bevy, September 26, 2012
I'm all for planting plants everywhere, but this doesn't make much sense fuel-wise.
Put a big smile on my face, though!
Put a big smile on my face, though!
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written by Dafyd, September 27, 2012
This is just typical of human arrogance toward other living organisms on planet earth.
Plants don´t move around, they need to stay where they are to be able to survive thier life span, besides, buses are usually parked up in halls when they´re not in use and bus drivers are notorious for bad braking technic.
Plants don´t move around, they need to stay where they are to be able to survive thier life span, besides, buses are usually parked up in halls when they´re not in use and bus drivers are notorious for bad braking technic.
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written by Maddie and Matt's Happy Earth, October 04, 2012
I think this is one of the strangest projects I have ever seen. I'm up for earth friendly campaigns but this is by far, the weirdest. I'm not saying that it's bad. It's just that, I feel that moving the plants will just allow them to have a shorter lifespan. Have they generated a result in doing this project?
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written by Deb, October 06, 2012
The bus used was NOT a city bus. The bus used was a traveling science lab for teaching and learning ideas. This is not a finished project. It's an idea..in the works, you might say. And the bus itself is not fueled using gasoline. The BioBus is committed to environmental sustainability. The BioBus is carbon neutral; its daily energy needs are provided by solar panels, a wind turbine, and an engine that runs on waste vegetable oil. A living green roof keeps the bus cool in the summer time while a super-efficient pellet burning stove that uses waste sawdust to heat the bus when we’re parked. In addition, we use low-environmental impact and salvaged materials in our projects whenever feasible in an effort to reduce waste.
So please, before you 'poo poo' an idea, at least, understand it or leave it alone.
So please, before you 'poo poo' an idea, at least, understand it or leave it alone.
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written by David Hurt, October 07, 2012
I'm a big fan of good old Boston Ivy.
I understand drag issues, but regarding structural integrity Ivy vines are nearly weightless, require no soil to grow on, and the most out-of-control bus driver wouldn't be able to shake them off.
Also, it's absolutely beautiful.
If the bus were a city bus (Deb pointed out that it's not the case, but I would like to see the idea grow), drag is hardly an issue. Busses around here in the heart of Beantown hardly ever pass 30mph from stoplight to stoplight, and with their flat fronts they are hardly aerodynamic to start with.
I understand drag issues, but regarding structural integrity Ivy vines are nearly weightless, require no soil to grow on, and the most out-of-control bus driver wouldn't be able to shake them off.
Also, it's absolutely beautiful.
If the bus were a city bus (Deb pointed out that it's not the case, but I would like to see the idea grow), drag is hardly an issue. Busses around here in the heart of Beantown hardly ever pass 30mph from stoplight to stoplight, and with their flat fronts they are hardly aerodynamic to start with.
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One side effect I could imagine from the 'moving garden' is that it would make people happy.