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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Model research on the influence of green roofs on environmental parameters in urban agglomerations

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The intensive development of urban agglomerations in Poland and other European countries has rendered the growth of biologically active areas more important with respect the quality of the urban environment. Taking the rapidly rising prices of plots in city centers into consideration, it is worth noting the vast surfaces of building roofs that can be used as biologically active areas. The term green roof is to be understood as an open, overgrown surface on a multilayer roof of a building. Green roofs can only be made on a planar surface with an inclination of 2% to 30%. In accordance with the type of usage, construction factors and maintenance requirements, green roofs are typically defined as either: extensive, intensive or semi-intensive roofs [1]. This study presents features of green roofs in urban areas with particular emphasis on filtration of air pollutants, heavy metals removal, reduction of rainwater runoff from roof surfaces and thermal insulation [2]. To carry out field studies of the influence of green roofs on the environment in urban areas two green roof models on a laboratory scale were used. The observations of the prepared green roof models made during the summer, autumn and winter confirmed the extremely beneficial effect of this type of roof for elimination of air pollutant, heavy metals, and suspended particulate matter. The observations also confirmed that plants on a green roof growing on a porous substrate absorb an average of 74% of rain water and then allow it to evaporate. As demonstrated in experiments, the use of different plant species on green roofs is superior to monocultures. Selection of plants for green roofs should focus mainly on how effectively they improve urban environmental parameters and remove gaseous and particulate air pollutants. The roughness of branches, twigs, and leaves makes green roof plants a very effective tool for removing dust pollution. The results of the study of the two green roof models on a laboratory scale are necessary to work out the parameters of each layer of the roof and select the most appropriate plants for the reference research object - a garden on a planar roof of one of the University of Opole’s buildings.