line with its priority of taking international action to mitigate climate change, the embassy brought British expert and president of EFB (European Federation of Green Roofs Association) Dusty Gedge to Budapest to talk about the environmental and economic advantages of innovative green technologies in urban environments at a conference entitled “Green roofs around the world 2013 – new prospects for urban development”. The conference, organised by EFB member Hungarian National Association for Green Roofing (ZÉOSZ), took place on 9 April, 2013 and was hosted at the Budapest University of Technology.

Green roof benefits

Urban environmental quality is heavily influenced by pollution, noise, the amount of dilapidated buildings, abandoned industrial sites, and reduced or missing green surfaces. This artificial environment is taking over urban lives and wipes out natural fauna and flora to a degree which significantly reduces residents’ comfort.

Installing green roofs and facades is known to provide a better quality of life for towns and cities. While these technologies return sealed surfaces back to nature, they also:

embellish and protect roofs
retain rainwater
reduce the rate of flow of rainwater to drainage systems
filter out dust and air pollutants
bind pollutants
provide noise insulation
and provide natural thermal insulation

Green building in Hungary

While Hungary has yet to catch up with some of the countries leading in the field of sustainable building, the tendency for green technologies to gain ground is growing. Hungary’s flagship Association for Green Roofing (ZÉOSZ) was founded in 1999 with the aim of bringing together local experts to discuss the rapid development of green roofing within the domestic market and to increase the number of green constructions in Hungary. Since 1999, members of the association have built more than 2 million square meters of green roofs around Hungary and are working to help green facades gain ground too.

Source: British Embassy Budapest