WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) today announced the availability of The Roof is Growing!, an educational resource for middle-school students and teachers about green roofs and their environmental benefits. The resource includes a lesson plan, workbook, and online interactive program designed to engage students on how green roofs cool cities, clean the air, create habitats, and control stormwater.

The Roof is Growing! is available at www.asla.org/greenroof. High resolution spring images of ASLA’s green roof are available here.

“Green roofs can serve as a creative solution to many issues facing the environment and urban infrastructure. By learning about green roofs, we hope to inspire young students to think creatively and use their imaginations as future landscape architects or any path they choose,” said Nancy Somerville, Executive Vice President and CEO of ASLA.

A green roof replaces traditional roofing with a living environment of plants and soil. Among the many benefits they offer, green roofs remove pollutants from stormwater and reduce the amount of water that flows into sewer systems. The plants store excess carbon from the atmosphere, lower radiant heat in the summer, and create habitats for local wildlife. Additionally, green roofs provide extra insulation to buildings and last two or three times longer than traditional roofs.

The Roof is Growing! is designed for middle-school students (grades 6-8), and is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a generous contribution from the landscape architecture firm Lewis Scully Gionet, Inc. To learn more about green roofs or schedule a tour of ASLA’s award-winning green roof, visit www.asla.org/greenroof.

About ASLA

Founded in 1899, ASLA is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing more than 18,200 members in 48 professional chapters and 68 student chapters. The Society’s mission is to lead, to educate, and to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environments. Members of the Society use their “ASLA” suffix after their names to denote membership and their commitment to the highest ethical standards of the profession. Learn more about landscape architecture online at www.asla.org.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX), building on four decades of leadership in advancing environmentally sustainable practices, is committing $2 million to Rochester Institute of Technology to serve as a founding partner of The Golisano Institute for Sustainability. Anne Mulcahy, Xerox chairman and CEO, made the announcement today during a presentation on the RIT campus.

This latest investment in RIT by Xerox, which will be spread over five years, focuses on developing talent and fostering new sustainable technologies through research.

“Xerox and RIT share a commitment to advancing environmental sustainability through innovation,” states Mulcahy. “Our collective efforts have the same desired outcome: making what’s good for the environment, good for business.”

RIT introduced The Golisano Institute for Sustainability last year following a $10 million commitment from B. Thomas Golisano, chairman and founder of Paychex Inc. and a member of RIT’s Board of Trustees. The institute is poised to make RIT the first technological university to provide a full spectrum of programs that embody the principles of sustainability in product development. The university is also developing the world’s first doctorate focused on sustainable production.

According to RIT President Bill Destler, “The Golisano Institute for Sustainability at RIT provides the premiere platform to collaborate in the creation of innovative education and technology development systems related to sustainable design, life-cycle engineering, remanufacturing and pollution prevention. The opportunity to partner with Xerox in this venture helps validate our leadership position, and we are extremely grateful for the company’s generous support.”

Xerox began its commitment to sustainability in the 1960s, leading to innovations like two-sided copying, print on demand, use of recycled paper in the office, and recycling toner cartridges. The company is the first in the business equipment industry to remanufacture and reuse parts and components, giving new life to the equivalent of more than 2.8 million products. In 2007, the company estimates it diverted more than 122 million pounds of waste from landfills.

Mulcahy offered a broad perspective on the advantages of sustainable practices as a presenter at the university’s Presidential Colloquium. In her address, Sustainability: Crisis and Opportunity, she acknowledges that the benefits of sustainability extend well beyond its favorable impact on our planet.

“We were an early leader in the ‘green’ movement because we thought it was the right thing to do for the environment, but we discovered something else along the way. Every one of our innovations ended up either saving us money or creating new markets and new revenue. We found, in other words, that we don’t have to choose between the environment and profit. We can do both.”

The Xerox commitment to The Golisano Institute for Sustainability represents the latest chapter in its long-standing relationship with RIT. Most recently, in 2004, the company gave $2 million to support development of a computing doctoral program within RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Xerox is also a founding partner of the Printing Industry Center at RIT, a Sloan Industry Center dedicated to the growth and profitability of the printing field.

Each year, Xerox employs more than 50 RIT students in co-op positions within the company, and more than 2,200 alumni currently work for the company.

Plans for the construction of a $50 million “green” facility to house The Golisano Institute for Sustainability are currently being considered. Earlier this month, the Rochester-area delegation to the New York State Legislature secured $12 million to begin the planning, design and eventual construction of this building to be located on the RIT campus.

Note: For more information on Xerox, visit http://www.xerox.com or http://www.xerox.com/news. For open commentary and industry perspectives visit http://www.xerox.com/blogs.

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bayer MaterialScience LLC (BMS) continues its commitment to sustainable development education and research by again participating as a sponsor of Carnegie Mellon University’s 2007 Solar Decathlon competition house. Progress on the latest Carnegie Mellon decathlon project was showcased yesterday afternoon at an event at Pittsburgh’s “Construction Junction,” the construction site for the university’s 2007 Solar Decathlon competition house.

“We are proud to be continuing our involvement with this important project through our sponsorship of another Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon house,” said Mark Witman, Director, Future Business, Industry Innovations, BMS LLC. “The 2007 project makes extensive use of Bayer MaterialScience’s Makrolon^® polycarbonate. Makrolon is the backbone of Bayer’s broad product portfolio and a material that has been an important part of the innovative design and environmentally conscious construction of the Solar Decathlon house.”

BMS supplied the translucent polycarbonate siding for the north wall of the 2005 Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon house. The Makrolon polycarbonate material will also be used in a light diffusing insulating roof panel for the 2007 competition house. It is the same high-tech and energy-efficient polycarbonate sheet that BMS is supplying for the roofing material for sporting arenas at China’s 2008 Olympic Games.

The Carnegie Mellon team has also chosen Makrolon Multiwall IQ-Relax reflective polycarbonate sheet for windows in the house. This insulating product reflects infrared energy – and consequently heat – by virtue of its unique composition and multiwall structure. The sheets function as panes in concept windows in the 2007 structure and provide high light diffusion and extreme heat reduction that result in increased energy efficiency. Bayer MaterialScience collaborated with TRACO, a southwestern Pennsylvania-based commercial and residential window manufacturer, to design the concept windows.

BaySystems North America LLC supplied BaySeal™ sprayed foam insulation for sealing and insulating portions of the building envelope of the competition house. BaySeal spray polyurethane foam is a highly efficient insulating material, and homeowners have reported energy savings of 50 percent or more over conventional insulation systems like fiberglass. It also serves to reduce air movement in and around the wall, thus cutting down on cold air drafts by achieving a moisture and thermal seal. The 2-pound, closed-cell BaySeal spray foam insulation was applied to the structure by InsulRight of North Versailles, Pa.

Other BMS materials are also featured in the 2007 competition house, including Baydur^® polyurethane insulating foam raw material that was used by CENTRIA Architectural Systems to manufacture the polyurethane/metal composite panels used for the building exterior. VIVAK^® co polyester sheet, supplied by Bayer subsidiary Sheffield Plastics Inc., is used by 3form, Inc., to produce its decorative architectural panels that are being used for a variety of interior design and architectural applications.

The Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy, is a two-year process where 20 collegiate teams from across the United States, Europe and Canada compete to design, build and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home. In October the teams will transport their solar houses to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where they will form a solar village. The schools will then compete in 10 contests to determine an overall winner. Using only energy from the sun, the competing structures will generate enough electricity to run a modern household.

“At Bayer, we are committed to the principles of sustainable development and strive to make a lasting and positive contribution to sustainable and environmentally compatible construction,” said Witman. “As an ongoing part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Solar Decathlon Project, we continue to demonstrate our dedication to treating the planet responsibly while offering products that can be used to generate creative solutions to address global concerns about the environment.”

The design of the 800-square-foot 2007 Carnegie Mellon solar house is based on the “plug and play” construction concept, which demonstrates the ways in which basic building blocks can be reconfigured to suit multiple contexts. The design is also multi-level to increase useable floor area for a given footprint. Construction of the 2007 house concludes this month at Construction Junction in Pittsburgh.

“We appreciate Bayer’s ongoing involvement and support of this project,” said Steve Lee, architecture faculty advisor to the Carnegie Mellon team. “We believe that the 2007 solar house, with the use of Makrolon polycarbonate resin, will be another successful example of innovative and sustainable urban design.”

Following the Solar Decathlon competition Oct. 12-20 in Washington, D.C., the 2007 Carnegie Mellon solar house will become a permanent addition to the facilities in Powdermill Nature Reserve, located outside Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County. Powdermill Nature Reserve is an outdoor educational center and biological field station affiliated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.