Abstract
In the 21st century, sustainable development is high on the international agenda, with the implementation of green walls contributing significantly to achieving environmental and social benefits, mainly in the frame of sustainable improvement of the building sector. The installation of a greening system can provide engineered solutions for stormwater management and climate change mitigation at both the urban and building level. This facilitates improving indoor comfort conditions and reducing energy needs. In order to improve the features of products and to facilitate the implementation of a proper technical standard, this paper proposes a critical bibliographic analysis of more recent scientific works. Moreover, by means of a numerical model of an existing single-family apartment, placed in the Mediterranean climate zone, a building envelope refurbishment with a living wall is carried out. A parametric analysis provides evidence for the application of different plants’ types and insulation materials. The results are analyzed considering the energy needs, the thermo-hygrometric comfort, and the outdoor surface temperature variation of the building envelope, emphasizing that a multi-criteria design approach is needed for green vertical systems. The paper provides data and an approach useful for designers and researchers in the evaluation and optimization of the performance of greening systems.
Highlights
The United Nations General Assembly, in 2015, formally adopted the universal, integrated and transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development forward 2030 that proposes 17 main objectives of which one of these is: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” [1]
Several authors have introduced different nomenclature according to the objective of their study, but Green Façade (GF) and Living Wall (LW) are the two main common classification categories [3,4,5], used in this study
The results are organized into three main categories, the effect on the outdoor building surfaces, the energy-saving, and the improvement of the thermo-hygrometric comfort, which reflects the main areas affected by the application of a green wall: the urban level and the building level
Summary
The United Nations General Assembly, in 2015, formally adopted the universal, integrated and transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development forward 2030 that proposes 17 main objectives of which one of these is: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” [1]. In recent decades several studies have shown that this system carries out benefits falling into three categories relating to sustainable development: environmental, economic, and social advantages [7]. They occur at two different scales: the urban scale (mitigation of the heat island effect [8], absorption of pollutants [9], improvement of water management [10]) and the building scale (reduction of energy demand [11], improvement of thermal comfort [12], noise reduction [13])
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