SPRINGFIELD, IL - Most development projects include a budget for landscaping.  Plants usually line a building's facade, or maybe a few trees make it into a parking lot.  Now, developers are starting to look up. 

From the parking lot of this shopping center, you can see something a little different.  It's literally a green roof.  It's made of several layers.  The base is a traditional roof.  On top is a layer of drainage, a root barrier, soil, and finally the plants.  Those plants absorb a lot of rainwater.  But not all.  The runoff is collected in a cistern and is used to flush the building's toilets. 

The change means the heating and cooling systems don't run as much.  There's an even bigger effect on the community.  It did cost more to buy the green roof materials.  But the installation was "dirt cheap."  Volunteers provided the labor.  Grants and tax credits also helped.  Combine that with energy savings, and it's starting to pay for itself. 

Project Designer Matt O'Reilly says you can't put a price on publicity that gets customers in the door.  And the customers seem to like what they see.  The building is actually the first LEED Platinum Certified shopping center in the nation.  For more information on green roofs go to www.greencircleshoppingcenter.com