Using Green Roofs for Social Housing to Improve Energy Consumption in New Cities. (An Applied Study of Social Housing in Egypt’s New Cairo City)

Abstract

Green roofs are an effective way to solve many environmental problems. New cities in Egypt have recently suffered from increasing energy consumption as a result of increasing construction density resulting from population growth, which has decreased green spaces in Egyptian cities. This paper aims to improve the energy consumption of cooling and heating energy in social housing in new urban cities in Egypt, reduce high temperatures inside and outside building, and decrease the urban heat island effect. To achieve these aims, the study suggests a method that is based on modifying the traditional roof of residential construction in Egypt by converting it to a green roof. An integrated analysis model including a strategy shows the environmental and climatic benefits of using green roofs to provide the external outdoor temperature of social housing buildings. The result revealed that green roofs, which are used by 50% of green roofs in traditional buildings, were shown to be efficient in reducing annual energy consumption by 12% and decreasing the average temperature inside buildings by 2.44°C, whereas the average temperature outside was reduced by 3°C.