Abstract
For greening the building envelope several concepts can be used, for example green roofs, fa?ades greened with climbing plants or living wall systems (modular pre-vegetated panels), etc. Greening the building envelope allows to obtain a relevant improvement of the its effi- ciency, ecological and environmental benefits as well as an increase of the biodiversity. Since the interest restoring the environmental integ- rity of urban areas continues to increase, new developments in construction practices with beneficial environmental characteristics take place, as vertical greening systems. Applying green fa?ades is not a new concept and can offer multiple benefits as a component of cur- rent urban design; considering the relation be- tween the environmental benefits, energy sav- ing for the building and the vertical greening systems (material used, maintenance, nutrients and water needed) the integration of vegetation could be a sustainable approach for the enve- lope of new and existing buildings.
Highlights
The ecological theories, from 1866 up until today, have contributed to the diffusion of a better awareness as far as our actions on a global level are concerned
In the case of living wall systems the insulation properties of the material used can be taken into account, as well as the air cavity between the system and the façade and, in the case of a well grown vegetation, Rexterior can be equalized to Rinterior, as for the direct greening system; for example the total thermal resistance of a living wall system based on planter boxes (d, figure 2) can be estimated as R = 0.52 m2·K·W−1
For example for the indirect greening system other materials can be used as support for climbing plants, such as different types of wood, plastic, aluminum and steel, instead of a stainless steel mesh, and can have an influence on the environmental burden of the system roughly 10 times lower than the stainless steel mesh [21]. Beside this for living wall systems a sustainable approach can involve a higher integration within the building envelope by combining functionalities, since the protection against the environmental parameter can be absolved by the layers involved
Summary
The ecological theories, from 1866 up until today, have contributed to the diffusion of a better awareness as far as our actions on a global level are concerned. The ecological and environmental benefits regard, as for green roofs, the improvement of air quality and reduction of air pollution, mainly related to reduction of fine dust levels [7], increase of biodiversity, the reduction of the heat island effect in urban areas due to the lower amount of heat re-radiated by greened façades and the humidity affected by the evapostranspiration caused by plants and indirect benefits as energy savings for the building Both the growing medium and the plants themselves provide insulation and shade which can reduce, especially in Mediterranean area, energy for cooling and improve the indoor and outdoor comfort [8]. For retrofitting projects an external insulation material outside can be covered with LWS panels
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