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Green infrastructure is a union between the building of structures and the surrounding natural environment to solve urban and environmental problems, such as heat stress, biodiversity, water management, sustainable energy production, climate change and more, all over the world. Green infrastructure is most commonly used to help control and redirect stormwater runoff and integrate stormwater management into everyday infrastructure in countries such as Sweden, US, UK, and Germany. This multi-functional approach is not only important to the environment, but has also shown positive economic effects by reducing costs.

Green Infrastructure
Nature can be used to provide important services for communities by protecting them against flooding or excessive heat, or helping to improve air, soil and water quality. When nature is harnessed by people and used as an infrastructural system it is called “green infrastructure”. Green infrastructure occurs at all scales. It is most often associated with storm water management systems, which are smart and cost-effective. However, green infrastructure is really a bigger concept and is closely associated with many other things. Green infrastructure also serves to provide an ecological framework for social, economic and environmental health of the surroundings.

Benefits
Some people might expect that green spaces are excessive to maintain and extravagant in nature, but high-performing green spaces can provide real economic, ecological and social benefits. For example: In result, high performing green spaces work to create a balance between built and natural environments.
 * Urban forestry in an urban environment can supplement managing storm water and reduce the energy usage costs and runoff in result.
 * Bio-retention systems can work to create a green transportation system.

Economic Effects
A study in 2012 that focused on 479 green infrastructure projects across the United States, found that 44% of green infrastructure projects reduce costs compared to the 31% that increased the costs. The most notable cost savings were due to reduced stormwater runoff and decreased heating and cooling costs.

A comprehensive green infrastructure in Philadelphia is planned to cost just $1.2 billion over the next 25 years, compared to over $6 billion for "grey" infrastructure (concrete tunnels created to move water). Under the new green infrastructure plan it is expected that :
 * 250 people will be employed annually in green jobs.
 * Up to 1.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emission to be avoided or absorbed through green infrastructure each year (the equivalent of removing close to 3,400 vehicles from roadways)
 * Air quality will improve due to all the new trees, green roofs, and parks
 * Communities will benefit on the social and health side
 * About 20 deaths due to asthma will be avoided
 * 250 fewer work or school days will be missed
 * Deaths due to excessive urban heat could also be cut by 250 over 20 years.
 * The new greenery will increase property values by $390 million over 45 years, also boosting the property taxes the city takes in.

A green infrastructure plan in New York City is expected to cost $1.5 billion less than a comparable grey infrastructure approach. Also, the green stormwater management systems alone will save $1 billion, at a cost of about $0.15 less per gallon. The sustainability benefits in New York City range from $139-418 million over the 20 year life of the project. This green plan estimates that “every fully vegetated acre of green infrastructure would provide total annual benefits of $8.522 in reduced energy demand, $166 in reduced CO2 emissions, $1,044 in improved air quality, and $4,725 in increased property value.”

Water management
Stormwater runoff is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas. When rain falls in undeveloped areas, the water is absorbed and filtered by soil and plants. However, when rain falls on the roofs, streets, and parking lots of urban areas, the water cannot soak into the ground. In most urban areas, stormwater is drained through engineered collection systems and discharged into nearby waterbodies. The problem with this is that the stormwater often carries trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants from the urban landscape, therefore degrading the quality of the receiving waters. Higher flows can also cause erosion and flooding in urban streams, damaging habitat, property, and infrastructure.

Green infrastructure helps solve many of these problems by using vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments. At the scale of a city or county, green infrastructure refers to the patchwork of natural areas that provides habitat, flood protection, cleaner air, and cleaner water. At the scale of a neighborhood or site, green infrastructure refers to stormwater management systems that mimic nature by soaking up and storing water.

Downspout disconnection
Downspout disconnection is the rerouting of rooftop drainage pipes to drain rain water into rain barrels, cisterns, or permeable areas instead of the storm sewer. This method can also be used to sttore stormwater and/or allows stormwater to infiltrate into the soil. Downspout disconnection can have great benefits in cities with combined sewer systems.

Rainwater harvesting systems
Rainwater harvesting systems collect and store rainfall for later use. When designed appropriately, rainwater harvesting systems slow and reduce runoff and provide a source of water. These systems particularly useful in dry and arid regions because they can reduce demands on increasingly limited water supplies.

Rain gardens
Rain gardens are also called bioretention or bioinfiltration cells. These garderns are shallow, vegetated basins that collect and absorb runoff from rooftops, sidewalks, and streets. Rain gardens mimic natural hydrology by infiltrating and evapotranspiring runoff. This is a useful and versatile options as they can be installed in almost any unpaved space.

Planter boxes
Planter boxes are urban rain gardens with vertical walls and open or closed bottoms that collect and absorb runoff from sidewalks, parking lots, and streets. Planter boxes are ideal for space-limited sites in dense urban areas and as a streetscaping element.

Bioswales
Biosawles are vegetated, mulched, or xeriscaped channels that provide treatment and retention as they move stormwater from one place to another. Vegetated swales slow, infiltrate, and filter stormwater flows. Vegetated swales are particularly suitable along streets and parking lots.

Permeable pavements
Permeable pavements are paved surfaces that infiltrate, treat, and/or store rainwater where it falls. Permeable pavements may be constructed from pervious concrete, porous asphalt, permeable interlocking pavers, and several other materials. These pavements are particularly cost effective where land values are high and where flooding or icing is a problem.

Urban Tree Canopy
Many cities set tree canopy goals to restore some of the benefits provided by trees. Trees reduce and slow stormwater by intercepting precipitation in their leaves and branches. Homeowners, businesses, and cities can all participate in the planting and maintenance of trees throughout the urban environment.

Urban Land Conservation
Protecting open spaces and sensitive natural areas within and adjacent to cities can mitigate the water quality and flooding impacts of urban stormwater while providing recreational opportunities for city residents. Natural areas that are particularly important in addressing water quality and flooding include riparian areas, wetlands, and steep hillsides.

Forest and Nature Reserves
Forest and Nature Reserves can include beaches and wetlands and have been long regarded as social, recreational and educational interactions among people. We have learned that these forest and nature reserves also provide "ecosystem services" such as carbon sequestration to the environment and its surroundings. As development continues, the preservation of the green infrastructure within these systems is essential. Green infrastructure in the forest and nature reserves are critical in preserving natural, scenic and cultural values in vanishing landscapes.

Benefits from the Forest and Natural reserves include water management, economic, air pollution and property value. Watersheds with forest cover have higher groundwater recharge, lower storm-water runoff, and a lower level of nutrients and sediments in streams.

Water Management in the Forest
The canopy from the forest delays greater interception through multiple layers of foliage. This can decrease the maximum peak discharge into the ground, therefore lowering the amount of runoff. Run off is also prevented by the roots from trees. These roots also prevent erosion and create lateral movement of water vapor in the soil to the atmosphere; this allows the soil to absorb more water during storms. Forests also reduce pollutants and contamination of waterways, allowing plants to absorb more nutrients.

An example of green infrastructure is seen in Sanitation District #1 in Northern Kentucky where they were able to reduce a combined annual sewer overflow by 12.2 million gallons and create savings up to 800 million dollars by implementing green infrastructure projects. Through green infrastructure systems, cities are able to save billions in avoiding water treatment infrastructure costs. In Portland, Oregon, they were able to reduce the particulate mass in the air through green infrastructure systems by 23.3 pounds per acre per year.

Wildlife Preservation/Habitat
Typical land-use decisions are often uncoordinated and therefore lead to an array of independent landscapes. Because of this, wildlife habitats are often fragmented and serve the needs of both humans and wildlife poorly. Green infrastructure, in the form of landscape ecology, can lead to better design landscapes such as, matrices of patches, corridors, and ecological edges, to help a diverse range of ecological systems and functions. The design system of these corridors, or greenways, enables wildlife to easily move or travel through human settlements. These corridors are also beautiful places that humans would enjoy living near as well.

Professor Liu of Michigan State University describes an example of these corridors as a solution to preserving panda habitats in southwest China. To preserve panda habitats, they must also be connected. Liu called for expanded corridors between the 63 isolated panda preserves, which pandas can then use to find mates.

These natural corridors are also being used in Thailand where 90 percent of the original forest cover has been cut down. To connect isolated natural preserves, natural corridors have been created to allow some species a larger space to live in. Similarly in the Russian Far East, tigers, a species that requires large-scale habitats, are moving north into China due to climate change. In order to manage this migration of tigers, Russia has implemented a plan to establish protected areas, manage the “matrix of species,” and create connectivity.

The wellbeing of wildlife and wildlife habitats in rural, suburban and urban settings depend on environmentally-responsible strategies of land management that emphasize a positive union between the land use of people and the natural environment of wildlife. By using ecological information in the design process of green infrastructure, this union can be used to not only preserve wildlife and wildlife habitat, but also to increase public awareness of wildlife, wildlife habitats, and their value to human welfare. It is important to consider wildlife and wildlife habitat values early in the development process.

Climate Change
Climate change is affecting us now, as it is evident as different parts of the country become drier, wetter or hotter. However, green infrastructure can help improve community resiliency today and into the future. Green infrastructure can help manage flooding by having infiltration-based practices, floodplain management and open space preservation. On the other hand, it can also help prepare for drought by infiltrating water where it falls helping replenish groundwater reserves, while also relieving stress on local water supplies, therefore reducing the need to import potable water. Green infrastructure is also seen to reduce urban heat islands by planting trees and building green roofs. By reducing local temperature and shading building surfaces, green infrastructure lessens the cooling and heating demand for buildings.

Transportation: Green streets and Parking
Green infrastructure can be incorporated into urban and rural transportation systems by assimilating into the existing hydrological and ecological functions of nature and land. By the use of permeable pavements, bioretention devices and vegetated bioswales, “green streets” has reduced flooding and water pollution. This is achieved by absorbing and filtering storm water. For example, in Edmonston, Maryland, new bioretention systems on the side of a 2/3 mile street now catches 90 percent of the first 1.33 inches of rain or water on site. By using this method, the vegetation also increases the biodiversity and helps reduce air pollution by collecting matter on leaves.

Green streets can also create a diversity of transportation options by balancing a history of automobile-centric streets and new opportunities for cyclists and pedestrians to safely move through the community, all while protecting their health. By designing a bike lane with a vegetative buffer between the bike lane and the cars, cyclists and pedestrians are better protected. Studies at Harvard School of Public Health show that cyclists on a green bike path (protected from vehicle lanes) saw the least exposure to pollution from vehicles. The safety of pedestrians is also increased by the use of bump-outs from the sidewalks to calm the traffic. These “green streets” enable people to walk more easily while also improving their mood and general health.

Many of the green infrastructure elements can also be seamlessly integrated into parking lot designs. For example, permeable pavements can be installed in sections of a lot and rain gardens and bioswales can be included in medians and along a parking lot perimeter. Benefits include urban heat island mitigation and a more walkable built environment.

Green Roof and Walls
Green roofs are covered with growing media and vegetation that enable rainfall infiltration and evapotranspiration of stored water. Not only does this option help regulate the internal temperature of a building, it also reduces stormwater runoff and mitigates the urban heat island effect. Green roofs are particularly cost effective in dense urban areas where land values are high and on large industrial or office buildings where stormwater management costs may be high. They offer significant economic benefits, including a longer roof life and heating and cooling energy savings. They can also provide an opportunity for urban food production and biodiversity.

Green roofs can extend a roof's lifespan by two to three times. A study at the University of Michigan showed that a 21,000 square feet $464,000 green roof will save $200,000 over its lifetime. By using green roofs, a 2-3 story building can have 15-25 percent savings in summertime energy cost.

Constructed Wetlands
Wetlands retain and filter water and support water-loving vegetation and soils. Some remain saturated with water year-round, while others go through wet and dry cycles. They fulfill critical ecological needs, cycling nutrients and providing habitat for a range of species. Wetlands also frequently serve as buffers or transitional environments between different ecosystems. By constructing wetlands we can mimic the functions of natural wetlands to capture stormwater, reduce nutrient loads, and create diverse wildlife habitat. They are often created in engineered growth media in trenches, small islands, and pools and are designed to contain water at all times -- either standing water on the surface or water saturated just below the soil surface. Constructed wetlands may be built especially for capturing and filtering stormwater or wastewater treatment. Plants can be chosen for performance, so constructed wetlands often do not contain the breadth of vegetation found in natural or restored wetlands, or provide all of their ecological services.

Planning of Green Infrastructure
The Green Infrastructure approach analyses the natural environment in a way that highlights its function and subsequently seeks to put in place, through regulatory or planning policy, mechanisms that safeguard critical natural areas. Where life support functions are found to be lacking, plans may propose how these can be put in place through landscaped and/or engineered improvements.

Barriers to implementation
Lack of funding is consistently cited as a barrier to the implementation of green infrastructure. One advantage that green infrastructure projects offer, however, is that they generate so many benefits that they can compete for a variety of diverse funding sources. Some tax incentive programs administered by federal agencies can be used to attract financing to green infrastructure projects. Here are two examples of programs whose missions are broad enough to support green infrastructure projects :


 * The Department of Energy administers a range of energy efficiency tax incentives, and green infrastructure could be integrated into project design to claim the incentive. An example of how this might work is found in Oregon’s Energy Efficiency Construction Credits. In Eugene, Oregon, a new biofuel station built on an abandoned gas station site included a green roof, bioswales and rain gardens. In this case, nearly $250,000 worth of tax credits reduced income and sales tax for the private company that built and operated the project.
 * The Department of Treasury administers the multi-billion dollar New Markets Tax Credit program, which encourages private investment for a range of project types (typically real estate or business development projects) in distressed areas. Awards are allocated to non-profit and private entities based on their proposals for distributing these tax benefits.

EPA's role
Since 2007, EPA (The United States Environmental Protection Agency) has actively supported the use of green infrastructure to manage wet weather. EPA has released a series of policy memos encouraging the use of green infrastructure to meet regulatory requirements, as well as a series of Strategic Agendas describing the actions the Agency is taking to promote green infrastructure.

In April 2011, EPA announced the Strategic Agenda to Protect Waters and Build More Livable Communities through Green Infrastructure and the selection of the first ten communities to be green infrastructure partners. The communities selected were: Austin, TX; Chelsea, MA; the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (Cleveland, OH); the City and County of Denver, CO; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; Puyallup, WA; Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse, NY; and Washington, DC.

Philadelphia
The City of Philadelphia has installed or supported a variety of retrofit projects in neighborhoods throughout the city. Installed improvements include: Some of these facilities reduce the volume of runoff entering the city's aging combined sewer system, and thereby reduce the extent of system overflows during rainstorms.
 * permeable pavements in parks, basketball courts and parking lots
 * rain gardens and bioretention systems at schools and other public facilities
 * constructed wetlands for management of stormwater runoff.

Maryland
Another U.S. example is the State of Maryland's promotion of a program called GreenPrint. GreenPrint Maryland is the first web-enabled map in the nation that shows the relative ecological importance of every parcel of land in the state. By combining color-coded maps, information layers, and aerial photography with public openness and transparency, Greenprint Maryland applies the best environmental science and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the urgent work of preserving and protecting environmentally critical lands. A valuable new tool not only for making land conservation decisions today, but for building a broader and better informed public consensus for sustainable growth and land preservation decisions into the future.

New York Sun Works Center, US
The Greenhouse Project was started in 2008 by a small group of public school parents and educators to facilitate hands-on learning, not only to teach about food and nutrition, but also to help children make educated choices regarding their impact on the environment. The laboratory is typically built as a traditional greenhouse on school rooftops and accommodates a hydroponic urban farm and environmental science laboratory. It includes solar panels, hydroponic growing systems, a rainwater catchment system, a weather station and a vermi composting station. Main topics of education include nutrition, water resource management, efficient land use, climate change, biodiversity, conservation, contamination, pollution, waste management, and sustainable development. Students learn the relationship between humans and the environment and gain a greater appreciation of sustainable development and its direct relationship to cultural diversity.

Case Study for Green Infrastructure in Stormwater Management, Surrey, British Colombia
Farmers claimed that flooding of their farmlands was caused by suburban development upstream. The flooding was a result of funneled runoff directed into storm drains by impervious cove, which ran unmitigated and unabsorbed into their farmlands downstream. The farmers were awarded an undisclosed amount of money in the tens of millions as compensation. Low density and highly paved residential communities redirect stormwater from impervious surfaces and pipes to stream at velocities much greater than predevelopment rates. Not only are these practices environmentally damaging, they can be costly and inefficient to maintain. In response, the city of Surrey opted to employ a green infrastructure strategy and chose a 250-hectare site called East Clayton as a demonstration project. The approach reduced the stormwater flowing downstream and allows for infiltration of rainwater closer if not at its point of origin. In result, the stormwater system at East Clayton had the ability to hold one inch of rainfall per day, accounting for 90% of the annual rainfall. The incorporation of green infrastructure at Surrey, British Colombia was able to create a sustainable environment that diminishes runoff and to save around $12,000 per household.

ABC Water Design Guidelines by PUB in Singapore
Since 2009, two editions of the ABC (Active, Beautiful, Clean) Waters Design Guidelines have been published by the Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore. The latest version in 2011 contains planning and design considerations for the holistic integration of drains, canals and reservoirs with the surrounding environment. PUB encourages the various stakeholders — landowners, private developers to incorporate ABC Waters design features into their developments, and the community to embrace these infrastructures for recreational & educational purposes.

The main benefits outlined in the ABC Waters Concept include :
 * Treating stormwater runoff closer to the source naturally, without the use of chemicals through the use of plants and soil media, so that cleaner water is discharged into waterways and eventually our reservoirs.
 * Enhancing biodiversity and site aesthetics.
 * Bringing people closer to water, and creating new recreational and community spaces for people to enjoy.

Duisburg-Nord, Germany
In the old industrial area of the Ruhr District in Germany, Duisburg-Nord is a landscape park which incorporates former industrial structures and natural biodiversity. The architects Latz + Partner developed the water park which now consists of the old River Emscher, subdivided into five main sections: Klarwasserkanal (Clear Water Canal), the Emschergraben (Dyke), the Emscherrinne (Channel), the Emscherschlucht (Gorge) and the Emscherbach (Stream). The open waste water canal of the “Old Emscher” river is now fed gradually by rainwater collection through a series of barrages and water shoots. This gradual supply means that, even in lengthy dry spells, water can be supplied to the Old Emscher to replenish the oxygen levels. This has allowed the canalised river bed to become a valley with possibilities for nature development and recreation. As a key part of the ecological objectives, much of the overgrown areas of the property were included in the plan as they were found to contain a wide diversity of flora and fauna, including threatened species from the red list. Another important theme in the development of the plan was to make the water system visible, in order to stimulate a relationship between visitors and the water.