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Professor Manfred Köhler’s visit to Australia has been confirmed from February 24 to March 8, 2008.

His visit will include opportunities for Green Roof Australia Inc members to hear his talks about both:

1. 1. The importance of green roofs and walls against climate change.
2. 2. The importance of combining green roofs with photo-voltaics (solar energy collectors) on rooftops so that they maintain maximum efficiency.

Professor Köhler (left), is the foundation Chairperson of the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network (WGRIN). He and his colleagues have done much for the progress of green roof and green wall industry and research in Germany – where some 30 years of green roof and green wall progress now leads the world. Current tasks are registration as an international organisation, setting up a world headquarters in Toronto, Canada, recruiting national members, promoting green roofs and green walls world-wide as an important climate change response, and organising the next World Green Roof Congress in Toronto in 2009.

I invited Manfred to Australia for several reasons. The first reason is to provide our members (and prospective members) with a clear understanding of the progress that has been made in the world’s leading green roof and green wall country – Germany. It is in Germany that municipal governments now mandate green roofs whenever a new building is erected, or when one is refurbished. We may not welcome such mandating, but we can certainly be influenced by the clear financial advantages and the very clear increases in visual beauty.

Stuttgart in Germany now has about 14% of its rooftops greened.

We need to understand how this greenery is changing the urban environment in Stuttgart (and other German cities) — and how our local adaptations across Australian cities can provide us with considerable weapons against climate change problems.

The second reason I invited Manfred to Australia is that he understands us, and our green roof and green wall problems and opportunities – so he can better see collaborative opportunities for international research and commercial development.

He can also advise Australia about how to better integrate solar technology and green roofs.

To maximize efficiency it is preferable that solar arrays and air conditioner inlets be designed into green roofs that reduce ambient temperatures. The German photovoltaic industry is worth US$5 billion and employs over 8000 people. It continues to grow at over 30 per cent per annum due to a visionary feed-in tariff scheme.

• Above: A solar energy photovoltaic on a green roof in Germany, where both green roofs and solar energy are encouraged.

• “No one knows the exact consequences of upsurge in the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentrations nor the effects that lie ahead as more and more of the gas enters the air in the coming decades – human-kind is running an uncontrolled experiment on the world”— Professor Robert H Scocolow, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Princeton University, writing in Scientific American magazine.

The World Green Roof Infrastructure Network is currently developing like our Green Roofs Australia Inc organization. It is:

• Registering itself as an international organization of national organization members led by a German Chairperson (Manfred).
• Developing an international headquarters in Toronto, Canada.
• Developing the World Green Roof Congress as a biennial event (first event is in Toronto in 2009).
• Developing a website to publish global information for its members.
• Providing an important global forum for green roofs and green walls administration, technology, research and development.
• Recruiting new countries to join the 18 which currently have national organizations that promote green roofs and green walls.

It is proposed that our membership fee to WGRIN is 400 Euros a year (about A$1,000). I believe this will be money well spent for Australia’s rapid development not only as a keen user of green roofs and green walls, but also as a supplier of consultancy and Australian-grown greenery for cities in countries with similar climates to Australia.

Most of the world’s green roofs and green walls have been developed in cold-climate conditions, where snow loadings are common. Our country will further develop expertise and plant species suited to temperate and hot-dry climates, and to lower weights of substrates and plants.

I am sure that Manfred’s four press conferences and four major talks in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne in February-March will do a great deal to develop our membership and the number of people who will want to invest in sensible green roof and green walls on their own properties. But there’s more!

Manfred is planning to return to be a key speaker at our Green roofs for Australia conference in Brisbane on June 19 and 20, 2008. On the way to the conference he expects to talk in Perth and in Adelaide.

The planning so far for February-March is:

• Sunday, February 24 Arrival in Brisbane from Frankfurt/Singapore.
• Monday, February 25 Local sighteseeing
• Tuesday, February 26 Press conference and lecture and meetings in Brisbane
• Wednesday, February 27 Fly to Sydney late afternoon. Overnight in Sydney
• Thursday, February 28 Local sightseeing
  Friday, February 29 Press conference and lecture, and meetings in Sydney
• Saturday, March 1 Rest
• Sunday, March 2 Fly to Canberra in morning. Visit green roof at Parliament House
• Monday, March 3 Press conference, lecture and meetings in Canberra
• Tuesday, March 4 Fly to Melbourne around mid-day.
• Wednesday, March 5 Local signtseeing
• Thursday, March 6 Press conference, lecture and meetings in Melbourne
• Friday, March 7 Local sightseeing
• Saturday, March 8 Flies back to Germany from Melbourne.

Keep informed via news on the Green Roofs Australia site. We shall contact you by email, also.

The February-March events above will provide our members with most interesting and informative information about the substantial benefits of green roofs and green walls for our joint futures.

It will also be a great opportunity for Sidonie Carpenter, GRA Inc. Vice President, and me to meet you and talk about how we can help make our new organisation more valuable to you.

Sidonie is developing the all-important Introduction to Green Roof Education Program in conjunction with two Victorian members, Dr Raelene Mibus of the Victorian DPI and Ben Nicholson, urban planning consultant (Groof Consulting).

The first scheduled one-day event is on June 18, the day before our next annual conference (In Brisbane on June 19 and 20).

The rest of this newsletter has details of the conference, and further details will be published on our site.

Take note of what all members of our association are being offered on this website by my daughter, Kath in Melbourne. She and I are initiating communications improvements progressively, to provide you with some of the best green roof and green wall information in the world.

Professor Manfred Köhler’s visits to Australia this year in February-March and June will be significant start points for us to convey to you a new professional approach to the built environment in Australian cities.

We are hoping he will speak to GRA Inc. members in all major cities of Australia this year – a significant achievement for a world leader in green roof and green wall science and technology.

Regards,

Geoff Wilson
President

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• Green Roofs Australia supports GREEN CITIES 08