Reconciling human and non-human use of urban regions to support biological conservation represents a major challenge for the 21st century. The concept of reconciliation ecology, by which the ...anthropogenic environment may be modified to encourage non-human use and biodiversity preservation without compromising societal utilization, potentially represents an appropriate paradigm for urban conservation given the generally poor opportunities that exist for reserve establishment and ecological restoration in urban areas. Two habitat improvement techniques with great potential for reconciliation ecology in urban areas are the installation of living roofs and walls, which have been shown to support a range of taxa at local scales. This paper evaluates the reconciliation potential of living roofs and walls, in particular highlighting both ecological and societal limitations that need to be overcome for application at the landscape scale. We further consider that successful utilization of living roofs and walls for urban reconciliation ecology will rely heavily on the participation of urban citizens, and that a ‘citizen science’ model is needed to facilitate public participation and support and to create an evidence base to determine their effectiveness. Living roofs and walls are just one aspect of urban reconciliation ecology, but are particularly important ‘bottom-up’ techniques for improving urban biodiversity that can be performed directly by the citizenry.
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•A novel VGMS made up of recycled/natural and highly performing materials from the energy/environmental point of view, has been designed, prototyped and in lab/in field monitored through a ...multidisciplinary approach.•The technological issues, biometric parameters, and the acoustic, thermal and mechanical aspects were complimentarily investigated.•Thermal performance analyses showed interesting effect both during heating and cooling seasons.•An acoustic analysis demonstrated that the system acts well as a sound insulation system, and its high sound absorption could be exploited to reduce the urban canyoning effect.
Vegetation in architecture can be considered a proper design strategy that is aimed at improving not only the performances of buildings, but also the outdoor climate. Different technological solutions have been proposed over the years to cover buildings with vegetation, i.e. green roofs, green walls and green balconies. A particular typology of green wall, which has recently been gaining high consensus among designers, is the vertical greenery modular system (VGMS). The positive impact of this type of technology on the performance of buildings is related to several factors, such as the façade orientation, the use of the building, climatic conditions, the type of plants, the substrates and wall assemblies, as well as mechanical and technological issues. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore needed, and different skills have to be joined together right from the early design phase in order to optimize and balance all the aspects that are involved. In this framework, a research project has been carried out in Turin (North West Italy), with the aim of developing a novel VGMS, constituted by a modular box covered with vegetation, made up of recycled/natural and highly performing materials from the energy/environmental point of view. After the design phase, the actual performance of the VGMS was assessed, through laboratory and long-term in field monitoring, and at the same time, the technological issues, biometric parameters, and the acoustic, thermal and mechanical aspects were investigated.
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•Thermal behavior of living walls is both affected by modular system and plants.•LWS can improve indoor by around 0.6–1.7 ℃ on average during insulation time in a day.•Indoor thermal benefits of ...north-facing LWS is better than north- and south-facing LWS.•Insulation of living walls is positively correlated to plant height and leaf coverage.
As eastern China rapidly urbanizes, living walls are spreading swiftly across cities and consequently resulting in its stronger influence on the urban thermal environment. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of external living wall systems (LWSs) on indoor thermal environments in winters with low temperatures and high humidity levels. Four containers with different outer facades were arranged in Hangzhou and a comparative analysis was conducted on changes in the internal and external thermal environments of these containers. Results reveal that both the soil-filled planter pots and plants positioned on the LWSs play a role in indoor insulation while pots have a more stable effect. Good thermal performance of living walls can improve the energy efficiency of buildings. When the north-facing walls of the containers were equipped with planter pots, a bamboo living wall or a living wall with other plants, the internal temperatures were 0.4 °C, 1.7 °C and 1 °C higher during the insulation period, respectively, relative to those of the reference container, and the all-day insulation period of the north-facing LWSs lasted more than 20 h a day. By contrast, thermal benefit of the north-and south-facing LWSs was weaker. Compared to more widely used plant species, dwarf bamboo increased insulation and wind resistance levels on the living walls, creating significantly higher temperatures on living wall surfaces and within containers in winter, indicating that plant features have a strong positive impact on the insulating features of living walls. This study not only makes up for the lack of research on the thermal performance of LWSs in the researched area during the winter, but also is of great significance to the development and application of living walls with better thermal benefits, such as orientation setting, plant selection, building energy saving, etc.
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•Ambient wet bulb temperature limits cooling potential of a building component skin.•Daytime sol–air temperature limits heating potential of a building component skin.•Cooling and heating efficiency ...of the skin of a building component have been defined.•The efficiency of different skin systems are comparable in a unique value.
The thermal evaluation of building components composed of a base wall with a solar passive skin solution, such as a vertical/roof greenery system, ventilated façade, reflective painting, etc., is usually performed as a whole. In this research, it has been proven that, independently of the base wall thermal inertia and insulation level, the temperature of the outermost surface layer of any building component during sunny hours is mainly dependent on the ambient air temperature and relative humidity, the incident global solar radiation and the building skin behaviour.
The latter assumption has been proven on the south wall of a reference building simulated with TRNSYS. The south wall properties have been varied and the building has been subjected to different climates. The assumption’s validity has been checked for twelve south wall cases: a combination of 2 thermal transmittance, 2 thermal inertia and 3 climates. Each case has been simulated for a whole year. Based on this finding and the local ambient conditions for sunny hours, the hypothetical achievable maximum and minimum temperatures for the outermost surface layer have been defined. Then, based on the outermost surface temperature experimental measurements, the cooling and heating solar efficiencies valid for any skin solution have been defined.
Furthermore, the developed methodology has been applied to a vertical living wall tested for a whole year under the accuracy and quality procedure of the PASLINK method. In this way, the cooling and heating solar efficiencies were experimentally determined for this skin solution for both, the hot cold seasons. The study has shown that the cooling efficiency during the hot season is 90.8%. As expected, even during sunny summer hours, the presence of water positively affects the performance of the façade, as it brings the base wall external surface temperature close to the ambient wet bulb temperature, therefore reducing the cooling load of the building. For the cold season, the cooling efficiency was similar, at 90.3%, which means a heating efficiency of 9.7%. Again, even for sunny winter hours, the values of the external surface temperature tend towards the ambient air wet bulb temperature, resulting in an increase in the heating demand.
These experimental efficiency values allow the heating or cooling behaviour of different skin solutions to be comparable with a single number that is independent of the base wall composition. In addition, independently of the base wall composition, once the experimental efficiency value of a given skin solution is known, it allows (during sunny hours) the base wall outermost surface temperature to be calculated with precision. The latter makes it possible to increase the accuracy of the estimation of the heating and cooling demands of such methods as the degree-day method.
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•A coupled heat and moisture transfer model of living wall is developed and validated.•A thermal performance comparison between living wall and common wall is presented.•The impact of orientation on ...relative thermal benefits of living wall is analyzed.•Equivalent thermal resistance of living wall is calculated in summer and winter.•Sensitivity test of various factors on equivalent thermal resistance is conducted.
In order to analyze thermal and energy performance of living wall system in Shanghai area, a coupled heat and moisture transfer model is developed and validated by filed experiments. The measurement results prove that living wall has a better thermal performance than corresponding common wall in summer and winter. And an energy balance analysis is conducted to elucidate the difference of heat transfer mechanism between living wall and common wall. Based on the model, the impact of orientation on thermal performance of living wall is simulated and analyzed in summer and winter. Furthermore, additional equivalent thermal resistance is calculated to evaluate the average thermal performance of living wall according to the long-term simulation results of both walls. It's found that the additional equivalent thermal resistance of living wall in summer is obviously higher than that in winter. Finally, a sensitivity test is carried out to distinguish the significant factors that affect long-term thermal performance of living wall, including plant parameters, substrate parameters, structure layer parameters, indoor condition, weather parameters and irrigation frequency. The model in the paper helps to optimize the design of living wall to get a better thermal benefit and judge whether living wall satisfies the local rule of energy conservation.
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In addition to the growing requirement to reduce building energy needs, demand has arisen to find sustainable methods of improving indoor air quality. Recent advances in green wall technology have ...led to the development of activated systems, termed botanical biofilters, that move air through the plant growth substrate to increase the rate at which the interior atmospheric environment is exposed to the components of the plant-substrate system that are active in air pollutant removal. Development of this technology is moving towards green wall integration within building air conditioning and ventilation systems. The work presented here describes an evaluation of several parameters essential for determining the functionality of a modular botanical biofilter, as well as experiments to systematically determine the filtration performance of the device, specifically the single-pass particulate rem filtration efficiency was evaluated and defined. The maximum filtration efficiency for total suspended particulate matter peaked at an air flow rate of 11.25 L s−1 through the 0.25 m2 filter, with any increases in air flow rate met with a reduction in efficiency. The system recorded removal efficiencies were 53.35 ± 9.73% for total suspend particles, 53.51 ± 15.99% for PM10, and 48.21 ± 14.71% for PM2.5. Comparisons were made against the single pass efficiency of the system without the botanical component, as well as a common in-duct pleated panel air filter, indicating that further development is required to enhance the filtration capacity of the system if it is match current air filtration standards.
•A botanical biofilter was tested for removal efficiency for particulate matter.•Three particle fractions were considered.•Comparisons were made against a common in-duct HVAC filter.•The system has moderate removal efficiencies, which could be improved.•Removal efficiency was 53% for large particles, 54% for PM10 and 48% for PM2.5.
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Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the systematic analysis of the potential environmental impacts of any product or process throughout the life cycle. This work presents the LCA of Active Living Wall ...System (ALW), an advanced form of living wall, which is a vertical greening system designed to reduce the indoor air pollutants along with several other benefits for occupants and building environment. Although this system is considered as having high potential to improve indoor air quality, ALW has not yet been assessed thoroughly from environmental perspective. Hence, the environmental impacts of production, operation, maintenance, and finally disposal phases of ALW systems have been investigated through LCA in this paper. Built as an experimental set-up, two different ALW systems have been investigated extensively for this study including ALW system based on felt layers, and planter box ALW. Life-cycle environmental impacts have been analyzed using ReCiPe environmental impact methodology. Comprehensive study results showed similar environmental burden for both ALW systems for a life span of 10 years, indicating stainless steel and PVC as the most impacting construction materials. Operational energy was responsible for major impacts in climate change and terrestrial acidification category where incorporation of solar energy showed possible reduction of burden. Although having few limitations, this LCA study has the potential to help both the manufacturers and built environment experts to improve the balance between benefits and environmental impacts for a more sustainable ALW system that can ultimately lead us to an improved indoor environment.
•Sustainability assessment of active living wall systems for a period of 10 years.•Functionally equivalent comparison between ALW and commercial air purifier through LCA.•Summary of how the use of recycled material and renewable energy can reduce the impact.•Optimization study suggested for renewable energy incorporation in ALW system.
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This dataset consists mainly of two subsets. The first subset includes measurements and simulation data conducted to validate the simulation tool ENVI-met. The measurements were conducted at the ...campus of the Bauhaus-University Weimar in Weimar, Germany and consisted of recording exterior air temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity at 1.5 m at four points on four different days. After the measurements, the geometry of the campus was modelled and meshed; the simulations were conducted using the weather data of the measurements days with the aim of investigating the accuracy of the model.
The second data subset consists of ENVI-met simulation data of the potential of facade greening in improving the outdoor environment and the indoor air temperature during heatwaves in Central European cities. The data consist of the boundary conditions and the simulation output of two simulation models: with and without facade greening. The geometry of the models corresponded to a residential buildings district in Stuttgart, Germany. The simulation output consisted of exterior air temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity at 12 different probe points in the model in addition to the indoor air temperature of an exemplary building. The dataset presents both vertical profiles of the probed parameters as well as the time series output of the five-day simulation duration. Both data subsets correspond to the investigations presented in the co-submitted article 1.
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In commercial interior green walls, plant trimming and replacement necessitated by stem elongation under low interior light levels is labor intensive and costly. Antigibberellin plant growth ...regulators (PGRs) may slow stem elongation and thus reduce maintenance costs in this environment. In Expt. 1, two PGRs were applied as foliar spray or drench to three spiderwort selections two of zebra plant ( Tradescantia zebrina ) and one of inch plant ( Tradescantia fluminensis ) immediately before installation in a green wall, each at three rates: ancymidol (ANC) foliar spray at 25, 100, and 200 mg·L −1 ; paclobutrazol (PBZ) foliar spray at 20, 80, and 160 mg·L −1 ; and PBZ drench at 1, 4, and 8 mg·L −1 , along with an untreated control. In Expt. 2, 80 mg·L −1 PBZ foliar spray, 1 mg·L −1 PBZ applied via subirrigation four times, and the combination of these two treatments, was evaluated on ‘Burgundy’ zebra plant. In both experiments, plants were placed in a vertical modular tray interior green wall. Change in total stem and specific internode length were measured every 14 days after installation for 3 months to calculate growth per month. Antigibberellin application slowed internode elongation of spiderwort selections during the first month after installation. Antigibberellins were more effective in zebra plant at reducing overall stem growth rate and less so on inch plant. Across the three spiderwort selections, 25 mg·L −1 foliar spray of ANC resulted in no difference in growth rate when compared with the control, although 100 to 200 mg·L −1 foliar spray was effective. Based on the results of both experiments, moderate and high rates of PBZ, applied both as a foliar spray and drench, resulted in similar reduction in stem elongation. PBZ applied as 20 to 80 mg·L −1 foliar spray, 4 mg·L −1 drench before installation in the wall, or a combination of an 80 mg·L −1 PBZ pre-installation foliar spray and recurring 1 mg·L −1 via subirrigation (four times) were effective at growth suppression of spiderworts for at least 3 months. Even rates of PBZ of 160 mg·L −1 foliar spray or 8 mg·L −1 drench did not show phytotoxicity in treated plants and could be considered for use. We recommend a pre-installation application of 80 mg·L −1 foliar spray or 4 mg·L −1 drench for controlling stem growth across spiderwort selections. Application of antigibberellin PGRs to plants before installation in green walls slows stem growth and can contribute to reduced maintenance costs.
In recent years, passive solutions for building envelopes have become much more common due to their capacity to decrease the heat flux through the envelope during summer time. Vertical greenery ...systems (VGS) are emerging as an interesting method of decreasing the thermal demand of cities, and also improving the quality of urban life. Open ventilated facades (OVF) have gained popularity due to their capacity to enhance the thermal resistance of the building envelope. As part of a project carried out in a Paslink cell in Vitoria-Gasteiz, an experimental campaign with full-scale VGS and OVF was carried out during the summer season to assess the thermal performance of a modular living wall (MLW) with respect to an OVF. The objective is to demonstrate that a stochastic differential equations (SDE) model can be used to assess the cooling requirements of an MLW and an OVF. An analysis was carried out to evaluate how different characteristics of the main facade affect performance, such as thermal resistance, solar absorption coefficient and convection coefficient. The results of these experiments show that both MLW (46 %) and OVF (67 %) configurations significantly minimize solar heat loads compared to non-passive bare wall (BW) facades, which are the reference configurations.
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