Comments for Green Roofs for Buses at http://www.ecogeek.org , comment 1 to 24 out of 20 comments http://www.ecogeek.org Thu, 23 May 2013 01:11:38 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47392 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. - David Hurt Sun, 07 Oct 2012 12:16:32 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47379 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. - Deb Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:58:47 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47367 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? - Maddie and Matt's Happy Earth Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:04:59 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47333 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. - Dafyd Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:31:44 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47328 I'm all for planting plants everywhere, but this doesn't make much sense fuel-wise. Put a big smile on my face, though! - Bevy Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:57:45 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47327 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. - Scott Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:56:01 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47324 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. - MichaelM Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:19:02 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47306 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. - furburger Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:09:57 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47278 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. - James Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:34:10 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47276 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. - Sara Shafer Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:53:52 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47275 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. - Richard Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:36:51 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47258 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. - Kees Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:33:55 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47257 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. - KenZ Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:37:38 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47255 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 ^^ - MAW Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:11:39 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47254 I like the idea, but can they implement it on larger scale? - himi Mon, 17 Sep 2012 04:25:37 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47250 Good initiative. I like it. - Tonmoy Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:25:46 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47243 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 - RK Sat, 15 Sep 2012 14:04:35 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47242 funny idea but does it make sense to use gas to move the garden? - Gifts With Humanity Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:56:09 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47241 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. - Steven Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:12:59 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/3809-green-roofs-for-buses#comment-47240 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. - Adam Sat, 15 Sep 2012 06:20:21 +0100