The roof is green

March 13, 2010 - 10:57 PM by

The 'second' tier roofs at Ketura's guest housing, offering shade from the sun

We stayed home this weekend, enjoying some peace and quiet at the ‘ol homestead. But last weekend we headed down for our annual Shabbat at Kibbutz Ketura with my husband Daniel’s group of high school students — he runs a program called TRY, Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim, and they always spend a week at Ketura.

But back to my visit to Ketura, which I’m always amazed by each time we visit. Yes, yes, I do have that sentimental love of kibbutzim thing, which I’ve written about before. And even though I tend not to tour the kibbutz, I always find something new on their grounds that sparks my interest. This visit, it was a set of six new kibbutz houses, settled in by six veteran families. The houses are attached, with three bedrooms each, I believe and with a larger than average kibbutz kitchen, which was the draw for most of the families.

What’s striking about them from the outside are their high roofs, which, it turns out, have an environmental purpose to them. They’re essentially open to the elements, covered with simple wire mesh and house the cooling units for each house. They’re not technically green roofs, which are generally roofs covered with vegetation. According to Wikipedia, however, a green roof also indicates a roof using some sort of ‘green’ technology, and this, I imagine, would qualify.

And, according to our friends who live in one of these new houses, it is considerably cooler than their old, flat-surfaced house down the lane. That’s no small matter when you live in a region where 40 degrees Celsius is the norm.

Of course, green roofs are nothing new for Ketura, which owns 40% of Arava Power, one of Israel’s most promising solar energy companies. The kibbutz, just north of Eilat, is also part of the so-called Green Kibbutz movement and has pioneered many new ecologically sounder practices, as well as adopting more common environmentally friendly habits.

Still. I was impressed.

Tags: , , , • Category: Business, design, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life 

Comments

5 Comments on The roof is green

  1. Professor Jeff Licht on Sun, Mar 14th 2010 3:47 AM

    2. You should see the green roof in Benyamina!

  2. Wire Mesh on Mon, Mar 15th 2010 7:56 AM

    3. Good Idea….”They’re essentially open to the elements, covered with simple wire mesh and house the cooling units for each house”

  3. Jessica on Wed, Mar 17th 2010 2:43 PM

    4. Prof. Licht: Send us a photo! Would love to see it.

  4. Pundak 101 saves the day | ISRAELITY on Sun, Mar 6th 2011 1:08 PM

    5. [...] Pundak during the day…We spent the weekend down south, our annual excursion to Kibbutz Ketura and its interesting neighbors. More about that later. One of the best parts of the trip was on the [...]

  5. IICFBD | ISRAELITY on Sat, Feb 4th 2012 8:35 PM

    6. [...] own neighborhood of Talpiot (I think that one is hosted by other neighbors of ours) and one down at Kibbutz Ketura, where given the hot weather nearly year-round and a surfeit of American-born kibbutzniks, [...]

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