Search results for " Green roofs"

Integration of green roofs&walls in urban areas

2020

Growing urbanization is associated with the emergence of environmental problems, such as the reduction of natural resources, the atmosphere pollution and the increase of the heat islands phenomenon in cities. The integration of vegetation in the urban areas, through the creation of green hanging systems, represents a possible solution to improve the energy sustainability of buildings, to combat meteoric excesses, to improve stormwater management and to reduce pollutant levels. These energy and environmental benefits are related to the properties of evapotranspiration, shading and thermal insulation of the vegetation. The work reports the results of the main studies concerning the use of han…

Building green covering for a sustainable use of energy

2013

Nowadays the growth of the cities increased built and paved areas, energy use and heat generation. The phenomenon of urban warming, called urban heat island, influences negatively outdoor comfort conditions, pollutants concentration, energy demand for air conditioning, as well as increases environmental impact due to the demand of energy generation. A sustainable technology for improving the energy efficiency of buildings is the use of green roofs and walls in order to reduce the energy consumption for conditioning in summer and improve the thermal insulation in winter. The use of green roofs and walls can contribute to mitigate the phenomenon of heat island, the emissions of greenhouse gas…

Some European green roof norms and guidelines through the lens of biodiversity : do ecoregions and plant traits also matter?

2018

Abstract Green infrastructure and in particular green roofs are crucial to meet the challenge of sustainable urbanisation fostered by the current European Research and Innovation agenda. Several documents were issued in the last decades in Europe for regulating the design, construction and up-keep of roof greening. In particular, the actual German guidelines have been widely adopted as a reference basis for green roof design and regulation worldwide, because of its exhaustiveness and proven building- and landscaping tradition. With the aim to assess the effectiveness of green roof guidelines and norms in supporting plant and soil biodiversity in different ecoregions, and particularly of the…

A plant sociological approach for extensive green roofs in Mediterranean areas

2013

Extensive Green roofs can be an important mean for environmental mitigation if designed according to the principles of restoration ecology. Moreover, if optimally executed, properly managed and of sufficient extension, they could be assimilated to meta-populations of natural habitats, worth to be included in the biodiversity monitoring networks. The best example supporting this hypothesis is the Lake water plant Moos in Wollishofen (Zurich, Switzerland) where, on three 100 years old units of extensive green roofs, occur most of the typical flora of Mesobromion, including high density of some endangered orchid species. With this work, we propose a methodology approach for green roofs in Medi…

Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications

2016

Abstract The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil-based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological releves, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and desig…

GReen roofs and façades agriculture (GRF) for supporting building energy efficiency

2011

Assessing the effectiveness of green roofs in enhancing the energy and indoor comfort resilience of urban buildings to climate change: Methodology pr…

2021

Abstract The effects of climate change on the built environment represents an important research challenge. Today, green roofs (GRs) represent a viable solution for enhancing energy and urban resilience in the face of climate change, as they can have a positive impact on the building's indoor thermal comfort and energy demand, as well as inducing various environmental benefits (easing urban heat island effects, improving the management of runoff water, reducing air pollution, etc.). Thus, it is important to be able to assess their effectiveness, both today and under future climate conditions, in order to evaluate whether they can also provide a valid long-term solution. In this paper, a sim…

Verde pensile estensivo ad alto valore ecologico in ambiente mediterraneo. Aspetti progettuali e funzionali

2013

Green areas are open spaces holding an unexpected kind of local biodiversity within the city, linked to species and habitats frequently found in human settlements. Green roofs can be an important means for environmental mitigation and, if designed according to the principles of restoration ecology, can improve the thermodynamic performance / hydraulic system and at the same time encouraging the development of urban biodiversity. With this work, we propose a methodology approach for green roofs in Mediterranean areas, that integrate aesthetic values with the functional traits of native species, in order to make green roofs “local tanks of biodiversity”.

Computing methods for resilience: evaluating new building components in the frame of SECAPs

2019

Resilience represents a new important feature that the anthropic systems, and cities among them, are called to cope with. In fact, the increasing negative stresses to which urban contexts are exposed, and mainly the climatic pressures, call for the capability of adapting to these modifications and, possibly, to restore the ex-ante situations. The role of the buildings and their envelope components is of crucial importance to this aim. This paper analyses the features of resilience of the roofs of buildings by means of proper quantitative indexes. On purpose, the performances of green and cool roofs are compared. The possibility of adopting nonstructural solutions, like the windows shading d…