ST. LAWRENCE DEANERY — The College of Mount St. Joseph will be the first local college with a green roof on a major building, a significant step toward energy conservation.

The new green roof on Archbishop Alter Library, the second largest building on campus, was installed Aug. 6 and contains about 8,880 plants that will filter rain water and insulate the building to reduce energy consumption. When in full bloom, the yellow flowers and blue foliage included in the planting will echo the school colors of blue and gold.

"This is an exciting move forward for the Mount and falls in line with our mission and heritage as a college sponsored by the Sisters of Charity to be responsible stewards of the environment," said Tony Aretz, president of the College of Mount St. Joseph. "One of the best things we can do for our students and this community is to set an example by preserving the earth’s resources. Learning these lessons at the campus library is a great place to begin."

The Mount’s modular green roof will consist of 4,440 square feet of modules filled with root barrier, growth media and drought resistant plants grown locally. The plants are varieties of sedum that bloom in the summer. The center of the roof will contain 177 modules filled with white marble chips spelling the Mount’s initials MSJ.

The roof is designed to reduce heating and cooling costs, extend the lifespan of the roof membrane, and decrease storm water runoff and pollutants into storm sewers. According to industry averages, storm water runoff could be reduced by as much as 90 percent, and heating and cooling costs reduced from 25 percent to 50 percent.

Archbishop Alter Library was scheduled for roof replacement this summer. The Mount’s plan to make it green was developed over the past year, and based on the linformation that will be gained from this first green roof, future green roofs on campus may be added.

The modules containing the plants are a 100% recycled post-industrial polyethylene plastic.