Abstract
Green infrastructure in urban environments provides a wide range of ecological, social, aesthetic, and health co-benefits. Urban plant covers in particular contribute to improved outdoor environmental conditions that, in turn, influence the energy behavior of buildings and their indoor thermo-hygrometric comfort performance. Within this context, this study illustrates a methodology aimed at verifying the economic feasibility of alternative types of green areas for public and private stakeholders, which are analyzed as passive energy measures. Therefore, our methodology integrates approaches from different disciplines and consists of a microclimatic analysis of different vegetation scenarios and of the outdoor comfort level, an evaluation of the energy needs of a sample of houses, and an economic feasibility estimation considering different scenarios and public and private investors. The methodology is illustrated through its application to a suburban district of the Sicilian city of Trapani in the South of Italy, considered representative of Mediterranean climate conditions. Results showed significant differences between the scenario outcomes depending on the type of vegetation used in the green areas and put in evidence how economic feasibility for some stakeholders may be achieved in the management phase if adequate incentives equal to the planting cost are assumed.
Highlights
This paper proposes the application of an integrated methodology aimed at verifying the economic feasibility of alternative types of green areas for public and private stakeholders, which are analyzed as passive energy measures
The proposed approach includes a feasibility assessment for both public and private stakeholders participating in the financial support of urban green areas, considered a passive energy measure
The integrated methodology was applied to a representative case study of a Mediterranean coastal city to determine the optimal type of vegetation for a green area in order to achieve the greatest comfort and energy savings and to evaluate the cost-effective conditions for different stakeholders
Summary
Trees can produce monetary benefits owing to their ability to provide shade [4] and, to achieve energy savings by cooling buildings [5]. Previous studies have focused on demonstrating the benefits derived from the use of vegetation as a passive strategy for mitigating microclimate changes and the effects of urban heat islands (UHIs) [7,8]. All these benefits may be estimated through the application of a replacement cost approach (using the costs of parasols), demonstrating that trees are a worthwhile long-term investment in terms of microclimate control [9]
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