IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v128y2014icp49-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air-conditioning energy consumption due to green roofs with different building thermal insulation

Author

Listed:
  • Jim, C.Y.

Abstract

On hot days, green roofs could reduce heat flux into indoor space and air-conditioning energy use. Most thermal-benefit studies estimate energy saving based on temperature measurements. A field experiment on the roofs of two residential buildings in subtropical Hong Kong was designed to measure air-conditioning electricity consumption in relation to three factors: (1) building thermal insulation (BTI): omitted at Block 1 and installed at Block 2; (2) green-roof type: each block had a bare (Control) and two extensive green-roof plots, namely simple Sedum and more complex herbaceous Peanut vegetation; and (3) three summer weather scenarios: sunny, cloudy, and rainy. Air-conditioning electricity consumption of six vacant apartments below the experimental plots was monitored by precision energy loggers. Under all weather conditions, the unshielded Control imposes high cooling load at Block 1, but BTI at Block 2 cuts heat ingress. Sedum reduces more energy consumption than Control at both blocks, with Block 2 better than Block 1. The best effect occurs on sunny day, followed by cloudy and rainy. Sedum roof with BTI enhances thermal benefit. Without BTI, Sedum roof consumes more energy, hence the simple green roof cannot substitute BTI function. Under three weather scenarios, Peanut uses more electricity at Block 2 than Block 1, indicating the joint operation of green-roof heat-sink effect (GHE) and building heat-sink effect (BHE) at Block 2. Thicker substrate with higher moisture-holding capacity generates GHE. Added BTI material layers create BHE, with thermal resistance reduced by moisture penetration and elevated temperature. Their joint effect has raised thermal mass and thermal capacity. A rather steep thermal gradient is formed to induce thermal-insulation breaching to push heat into indoor space. At Block 1, Peanut roof can partly compensate for omission of BTI. At Block 2, however, Peanut coupled with BTI can synergistically increase cooling load. The findings can inform policies and design of green roof and associated BTI in cities with hot summer.

Suggested Citation

  • Jim, C.Y., 2014. "Air-conditioning energy consumption due to green roofs with different building thermal insulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 49-59.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:128:y:2014:i:c:p:49-59
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.04.055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261914004085
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.04.055?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhu, Dan & Tao, Shu & Wang, Rong & Shen, Huizhong & Huang, Ye & Shen, Guofeng & Wang, Bin & Li, Wei & Zhang, Yanyan & Chen, Han & Chen, Yuanchen & Liu, Junfeng & Li, Bengang & Wang, Xilong & Liu, Wenx, 2013. "Temporal and spatial trends of residential energy consumption and air pollutant emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 17-24.
    2. Radhi, Hassan & Sharples, Stephen, 2013. "Quantifying the domestic electricity consumption for air-conditioning due to urban heat islands in hot arid regions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 371-380.
    3. Pérez, Gabriel & Rincón, Lídia & Vila, Anna & González, Josep M. & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2011. "Green vertical systems for buildings as passive systems for energy savings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4854-4859.
    4. Jaffal, Issa & Ouldboukhitine, Salah-Eddine & Belarbi, Rafik, 2012. "A comprehensive study of the impact of green roofs on building energy performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 157-164.
    5. Kikegawa, Yukihiro & Genchi, Yutaka & Kondo, Hiroaki & Hanaki, Keisuke, 2006. "Impacts of city-block-scale countermeasures against urban heat-island phenomena upon a building's energy-consumption for air-conditioning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(6), pages 649-668, June.
    6. Doug, Banting & Hitesh, Doshi & James, Li & Paul, Missios, 2005. "Report on the Environmental Benefits and Costs of Green Roof Technology for the City of Toronto," MPRA Paper 70526, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Spala, A. & Bagiorgas, H.S. & Assimakopoulos, M.N. & Kalavrouziotis, J. & Matthopoulos, D. & Mihalakakou, G., 2008. "On the green roof system. Selection, state of the art and energy potential investigation of a system installed in an office building in Athens, Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 173-177.
    8. Li, Canbing & Zhou, Jinju & Cao, Yijia & Zhong, Jin & Liu, Yu & Kang, Chongqing & Tan, Yi, 2014. "Interaction between urban microclimate and electric air-conditioning energy consumption during high temperature season," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 149-156.
    9. Holly P. Jones & David G. Hole & Erika S. Zavaleta, 2012. "Harnessing nature to help people adapt to climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(7), pages 504-509, July.
    10. Ihara, Tomohiko & Kikegawa, Yukihiro & Asahi, Kazutake & Genchi, Yutaka & Kondo, Hiroaki, 2008. "Changes in year-round air temperature and annual energy consumption in office building areas by urban heat-island countermeasures and energy-saving measures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 12-25, January.
    11. Lee, W. L. & Yik, F. W. H., 2002. "Regulatory and voluntary approaches for enhancing energy efficiencies of buildings in Hong Kong," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 251-274, April.
    12. Smith, Claire & Levermore, Geoff, 2008. "Designing urban spaces and buildings to improve sustainability and quality of life in a warmer world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4558-4562, December.
    13. Chua, K.J. & Chou, S.K. & Yang, W.M. & Yan, J., 2013. "Achieving better energy-efficient air conditioning – A review of technologies and strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 87-104.
    14. Yun, Geun Young & Steemers, Koen, 2011. "Behavioural, physical and socio-economic factors in household cooling energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2191-2200, June.
    15. Ascione, Fabrizio & Bianco, Nicola & de’ Rossi, Filippo & Turni, Gianluca & Vanoli, Giuseppe Peter, 2013. "Green roofs in European climates. Are effective solutions for the energy savings in air-conditioning?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 845-859.
    16. Florides, G. A. & Tassou, S. A. & Kalogirou, S. A. & Wrobel, L. C., 2002. "Measures used to lower building energy consumption and their cost effectiveness," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(3-4), pages 299-328, November.
    17. Lam, Tony N.T. & Wan, Kevin K.W. & Wong, S.L. & Lam, Joseph C., 2010. "Impact of climate change on commercial sector air conditioning energy consumption in subtropical Hong Kong," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(7), pages 2321-2327, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berardi, Umberto & GhaffarianHoseini, AmirHosein & GhaffarianHoseini, Ali, 2014. "State-of-the-art analysis of the environmental benefits of green roofs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 411-428.
    2. Sara Di Lonardo & Susanna Mariani & Germina Giagnacovo & Antonella Marone & Salvatore Raimondi, 2019. "Green infrastructures for the energetic and environmental sustainability of cities," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2 Suppl.), pages 79-98.
    3. Zinzi, Michele & Carnielo, Emiliano & Mattoni, Benedetta, 2018. "On the relation between urban climate and energy performance of buildings. A three-years experience in Rome, Italy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 148-160.
    4. Kong, Fanhua & Sun, Changfeng & Liu, Fengfeng & Yin, Haiwei & Jiang, Fei & Pu, Yingxia & Cavan, Gina & Skelhorn, Cynthia & Middel, Ariane & Dronova, Iryna, 2016. "Energy saving potential of fragmented green spaces due to their temperature regulating ecosystem services in the summer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1428-1440.
    5. Néstor Santillán-Soto & O. Rafael García-Cueto & Alejandro A. Lambert-Arista & Sara Ojeda-Benítez & Samantha E. Cruz-Sotelo, 2019. "Comparative Analysis of Two Urban Microclimates: Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-11, April.
    6. Toparlar, Y. & Blocken, B. & Maiheu, B. & van Heijst, G.J.F., 2018. "Impact of urban microclimate on summertime building cooling demand: A parametric analysis for Antwerp, Belgium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 852-872.
    7. Li, Canbing & Zhou, Jinju & Cao, Yijia & Zhong, Jin & Liu, Yu & Kang, Chongqing & Tan, Yi, 2014. "Interaction between urban microclimate and electric air-conditioning energy consumption during high temperature season," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 149-156.
    8. Lee, Louis S.H. & Jim, C.Y., 2019. "Energy benefits of green-wall shading based on novel-accurate apportionment of short-wave radiation components," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1506-1518.
    9. Ouldboukhitine, Salah-Eddine & Belarbi, Rafik & Sailor, David J., 2014. "Experimental and numerical investigation of urban street canyons to evaluate the impact of green roof inside and outside buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 273-282.
    10. Raji, Babak & Tenpierik, Martin J. & van den Dobbelsteen, Andy, 2015. "The impact of greening systems on building energy performance: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 610-623.
    11. Jim, C.Y., 2014. "Passive warming of indoor space induced by tropical green roof in winter," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 272-282.
    12. Kim, Jimin & Hong, Taehoon & Jeong, Jaemin & Koo, Choongwan & Jeong, Kwangbok, 2016. "An optimization model for selecting the optimal green systems by considering the thermal comfort and energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 682-695.
    13. Taleghani, Mohammad, 2018. "Outdoor thermal comfort by different heat mitigation strategies- A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2011-2018.
    14. Jim, C.Y., 2015. "Cold-season solar input and ambivalent thermal behavior brought by climber greenwalls," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 926-938.
    15. Ascione, Fabrizio & Bianco, Nicola & de’ Rossi, Filippo & Turni, Gianluca & Vanoli, Giuseppe Peter, 2013. "Green roofs in European climates. Are effective solutions for the energy savings in air-conditioning?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 845-859.
    16. Xu, Xiaoyu & González, Jorge E. & Shen, Shuanghe & Miao, Shiguang & Dou, Junxia, 2018. "Impacts of urbanization and air pollution on building energy demands — Beijing case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 98-109.
    17. Manso, Maria & Teotónio, Inês & Silva, Cristina Matos & Cruz, Carlos Oliveira, 2021. "Green roof and green wall benefits and costs: A review of the quantitative evidence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Jim, C.Y., 2015. "Thermal performance of climber greenwalls: Effects of solar irradiance and orientation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 631-643.
    19. Bevilacqua, Piero, 2021. "The effectiveness of green roofs in reducing building energy consumptions across different climates. A summary of literature results," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    20. Ulpiani, Giulia & di Perna, Costanzo & Zinzi, Michele, 2019. "Water nebulization to counteract urban overheating: Development and experimental test of a smart logic to maximize energy efficiency and outdoor environmental quality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 1091-1113.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:128:y:2014:i:c:p:49-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.