Green roofs to make Nanyang a garden city

More than 160,000 square meters of green roofs spread out across 165 units have been erected in Nanyang. This is equivalent to a large-scale hanging garden of around 240 mu (16 hectares).

The announcement was made at a work conference took place recently, which was attended by officials from the city's Environmental Protection Office, Civilization Office and Urban Management Office.

According to conference, another 145 units in the Wolong district, Wancheng district, Hi-tech Development Zone and Urban-rural Integration Demonstration Zone will also have green roofs and irrigation facilities before April 30, 2018.

The move not only is a response to Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's call for ecological restoration, but forms part of Nanyang's efforts to establish itself as a National Ecological Garden City by 2018.

A research of the United Nations Development Programme reveals that the concentration of carbon dioxide will drop by 80 percent, if rooftop greening rate exceeds 70 percent. In addition to mitigating the heat island effect, green roofs can also absorb rainwater and reduce air pollution.

The theory has been proven to be effective in Nanyang. For, as of Nov 19, the average concentration of PM2.5 in urban areas has decreased by 10.4 percent to 52 mcg per cubic meter. A total of 214 days were recorded with 'excellent' or 'fine' levels of air quality, reaching the annual goal two months before the year's end.