DuPage gets grant to create green roof

Large planters filled with low-growing grass could soon replace the dingy gray rubberized patches that make up the 8,100-square foot roof above the DuPage County administration building's cafeteria.

The county recently received a $250,000 federal grant from the Department of Energy to convert the cafeteria's roof to a more energy efficient and ecologically friendly version.

The second-story roof was built to handle a third-story addition in the future. But with a price tag of between $5 million and $6 million, no one's looking to add a third floor above the cafeteria anytime soon, county officials said.

"Structurally, the roof above the cafeteria is one of the few places sufficient enough to support this initiative," said Kathy MacLennan, the county's deputy director of facilities management.

MacLennan said the county would send out bid specifications for the project in about two months. Any bid chosen above the grant amount would have to be covered by the county.

The "green" roof would provide energy-saving benefits by providing better insulation for that area of the building thereby lowering heating and cooling costs, which is beneficial to the environment, MacLennan said.

The roof will be visible to county visitors, but not accessible. MacLennan said signs will likely be placed at windows where the roof is visible explaining its benefits.

The work could begin in the summer with completion set for the fall, MacLennan said.

The county board's public works committee has to approve the final plan, but members did not appear to object to the proposal at Tuesday's meeting when the grant award was announced.