Guadalajara might not be at the level of Germany, Toronto, Chicago and the United States — leaders in ecologically geared building design — but 20-something entrepreneur Roberto Huver is here to change that.
Just since November 2011, Huver and two business partners in a company called Ecotejado have been designing and installing plant covered “green walls” and “green roofs” for businesses and homes. He has 15,000 square meters under his belt so far, including a green installation at the swanky Plaza Andares and one at the Guadalajara Country Club. In excellent English, Huver notes that “it’s tough to begin a company — you have to work a lot harder — but I’m having fun.”
Ecotejado, which uses technology and brands from Brazil, Mexico City and the United States, is the only company doing green roofs in Guadalajara, Huver says. (Comex also produces materials for making green roofs, but they are not sold in many Comex stores.) Four or five other companies are doing green walls. Yet the benefits of green walls are aesthetic and financial (boosting property values), while green roofs are notable for a wider array of benefits. Huver cites “macro-benefits,” such as increasing the oxygen level in cities and avoiding “urban heat island” syndrome and water runoff problems, along with many economic advantages to individual owners, such as insulating the interior of the building and increasing the property value and tax benefits (in Mexico, the Predial property tax).
Not only that, but green roofs cost less than green walls — “an average of $1,000 pesos per square meter, compared to $3,500 pesos per square meter for green walls,” Huver explained.
But both the walls and the roofs “reconcile cities with nature,” he went on.
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