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30 CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • FALL 2016 www.CTGreenGuide.com GREEN WARRIOR: NAME HERE PHOTO | ???? A roof of changing colors W hen New Milford Hospital built its new emergency department last year, de- signers were particularly sensitive to how the roof would look from surrounding residential streets at higher elevations. A big black rubber rectangle wouldn't provide the aesthetic desired by the Western Connecticut Health Network-owned hospital. So instead, New Milford decided to install a 6,000-square-foot green roof covered with flowering plants called sedum. The black rubber is still there, but hidden underneath the plant- ings, which change colors in different seasons — green in the summer, yellow in the spring and reddish brown in the fall. Besides creating a prettier view for neighbors, the $180,000 roof's other major benefit is it reduces cooling costs in the new emergency depart - ment because the roof surface doesn't get as hot during the day. The plantings also reduce rain- water runoff and the nitrogen it brings to area waterways, and in the end are expected to extend the life of the roof to 40 years or more, because they block the sun's ultra- violet radiation. New Milford hasn't done an exact cost-benefit analysis for the roof, and it has no baseline energy consumption to make comparisons, since the emergency department is new. But Charlie Geyer, site director, estimates that the roof will pay for itself in 12 to 15 years. The green roof was supplied by Maryland's Conservation Technol- ogy and installed by Danbury's Barrett Inc. ECOmpany: NEW MILFORD HOSPITAL PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED HEADQUARTERS: New Milford EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Dr. Thomas Koobatian FOUNDED: 1921 EMPLOYEES: 220 WEBSITE: www.newmilfordhospital.org New Milford Hospital's key motivations for installing a green roof on its new emergency department were aesthetics for the surrounding neighborhood and reducing cooling costs in the summer. Did you know? One of the challenges of green roofs is that they require sturdier construction to support the weight of plants and soil. According to Maryland's Conservation Technology, green roofs must be able to support as much as 100 pounds more per square foot than a normal roof.