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.
This is apparently important to Huver and his partners Paulina Robles and Jaime Perez. Although Huver studied finance at university, he wants his work to benefit his community, as evidenced in his zeal for green roofs and his former work for a humanitarian organization, FM4, which aims to protect vulnerable Central Americans as they pass through Mexico bound for jobs in the United States.“With a business, you can see positive changes happen so much faster,” he said, reflecting on his work with FM4. He looks to the United States as an example of what will happen with green roofs in Mexico. “In one year, the green roof industry there grew 28.5 percent while the general economy only grew two or three percent.”
Besides the Plaza Andares and country club projects, Ecotejado has done projects in “diverse businesses — universities, a call center, a touristic development” — and in homes. Huver is also involved in a plan for green installations at the highway-bridge complex at Aqueducto and Patria and in developing green furniture for indoor use.
Ecotejado’s green roofs and walls are custom designed for each client. “We create solutions, not products,” he points out, explaining that one client may want a green roof for having barbecues, while another may not want access to the roof. Each case demands a unique selection of materials and plants, he said. The barbecuer may end up with a grass installation and the no-access client with a low maintenance plant, while another type of green roof gets bushes or vegetables, which require more soil and are heavier.
“Another benefit is our green roofs are modular,” Huver pointed out. “So if you have a problem with waterproofing, you don’t have to pull everything up.” But green roofs actually lengthen the life of waterproofing, he said, because the sun does not hit it.
Green roofs are frequently created on the sloped roofs more common in the United States, while here in Mexico, flat roofs are ideal.
Another of Ecotejado’s innovations is the imported material they use, some of which Huver terms “geo-fabrics.” The innovative materials are often made from chipped flip-flop sandals bound with cement, which makes the products very light.
With Guadalajara showing evidence of increasing interest in protecting the environment and in urban farming, Ecotejada represents another example of young people turning idealism into business projects.
Ecotejado, 044-333-103-8125, (33) 3165-4152, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.ecotejado.com.