Specs: 560 square ft of roof on 7 small buildings. 416 square feet of green roofs and 144 feet of control roofs.
The Rock Springs Research Facility is the only facility of its type in the United States. It consists of seven small buildings at the Russell Larson Research Center just west of campus. Six of the buildings are identical 6x8 foot slab roof, garden shed-like structures. Each of these buildings is insulated, fitted with heaters, air conditioned, and instrumented to collect data on heat flux, energy use, and runoff. Three of the buildings have identical green roofs and three are controls. The seventh building (Funded by American Hydrotech), is a 16x18 foot structure with the roof divided into six equal-sized sections. This building is also fitted with instrumentation to measure runoff quantity and is currently being used to investigate the influence of drainage materials on plant growth and storm water runoff. Also, a weather station is situated atop the American Hydrotech building. The research site also has ample ground level space that has been used to evaluate green roof plants in small test modules.
