Smart Irrigation Control Systems for Productive Green Roofs

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Green roofs are becoming a standard requirement on buildings around the world as an important measure to counteract global warming. The inclusion of plant life in urban areas captures carbon, promotes biodiversity, reduces the urban heat island effect, absorbs storm water and improves the energy efficiency of buildings. Green roofs that grow food crops are known as productive green roofs, and introduce special requirements for irrigation management. Different plants grow at different rates and have different irrigation needs over their life cycle. The research challenge is to develop and test smart algorithms that can adaptively adjust irrigation levels to changing requirements over time and across the roof area depending on the plant needs, soil type and condition and weather patterns. Predictive algorithms will enable pro-active resource planning and storm water management. This project is a collaboration between Ryerson University and ZinCo Canada, a green roof systems supplier. It will develop smart irrigation control systems to adaptively adjust irrigation levels locally within separately controlled irrigation zones. The algorithm will be modular and scalable, and a cloud-based monitoring and control interface will also be developed. It will be applicable to efficient maintenance of non-productive green roofs as well as to the ultimate biodiversity green roofs that contribute to environmental Green Building certifications. This system will allow building managers to monitor, adjust and predict the resource requirements of the green roof, leading to improved resource efficiency and storm water management.