Geoff Egbers, ASLA, Gets Behind the Green Roof
Residential landscape architect supported the green roof project because he supports ASLA and the profession.

	Geoff Egbers, ASLA, won't be installing a green roof anytime soon, but he supports the technology, and he supports ASLA.

Geoff Egbers, ASLA, doesn’t usually work on Saturdays, but a few months ago, when ASLA was just beginning its fund-raising drive to help cover the costs of its green roof project, he happened to step into his office and receive an email asking for his help. “I looked at it,” he says, “and I thought, ‘they’re never going to make it.’” That is, unless someone got the ball rolling. Egbers, a committed and passionate member of ASLA, decided that his firm, Egbers Land Design Inc., would be that someone and commit to pledging $10,000 toward the project in the hopes that other firms would follow suit. And others have. To date, more than 100 ASLA firms, members, chapters, and even employees have stepped forward to pledge their support to the ASLA green roof project, raising 74 percent of the goal for product services and cash contributions.

“I wanted to create a spark,” Egbers says of his commitment. “I wanted to create the necessary energy to get the fund-raising going. You know, if we want to be part of this organization, we need to stand behind the organization, and if green roofs are what ASLA is getting behind, then we need to get behind them too.”

Egbers supports the green roof initiative even though he won’t professionally gain from the project, or the knowledge gained from the installation and studies that take place on the roof. That’s because Egbers Land Design Inc. is a design–build firm that strictly handles the design and installation of large-scale residential projects. No matter how widespread green roof applications become, he cannot foresee a time when his firm would be performing a green roof installation. “We have a hard enough time getting to all the work we have now,” he says. “This is a testament to the breadth of our profession, but I believe you should specialize in what you feel you do best and stick to it.”

That’s not to say that Egbers isn’t looking forward to seeing green roofs become more prominent. He notes that big-box stores, which are cropping up unabated in suburban areas, are ideal candidates for green roofs. “Putting green roofs on those big boxes would be wonderful,” he says, noting that the large roofs and parking lots around big-box stores create big stormwater runoff problems.

He also noted that his local school district recently made the decision that all new district buildings would have to be LEED certified. Egbers said he talked to the school superintendent about the decision, and learned it was made in order to educate kids at an early age about green building techniques and sustainability. “We really want these kids to leave school and go into college or the workplace thinking of these types of buildings as the norm,” he says. “You want them to go into a building and say, ‘Why can’t we have a green roof here? Why do we have to have this sterile roof?’”

Concerning his own work, Egbers says he hasn’t seen a big push for sustainability on the residential front yet. However, he notes that as sustainable design becomes more of the norm when it comes to commercial building—and as energy prices continue to rise—he expects that home owners will begin looking at ways to incorporate sustainable design techniques, particularly in the landscape. He also notes that landscape architects have been incorporating sustainable design practices in their designs for years by using trees to shade areas around the home to keep air conditioning use at a minimum and wind breaks to keep heating costs down.