Green Roofs and Global Warming
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Date
2010-09-02
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Department for Development of Thai and Alternative Medicine
Abstract
The built environment, which includes buildings, accounts for approximately 40 percent of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted as a result of human activity; transport, agriculture and industry combined account for the rest. Reducing energy consumption in buildings thus becomes significant. Heat transfer through building envelopes, including through roofs, accounts for 60 percent of electricity consumed by airconditioning systems. The natural insulation afforded by green roofs is one of the most efficient ways to curb roof thermal transfer value (OTTV) and keep such values below 25 Watts/m2, as stipulated under the building code limits in many countries, including Thailand. The benefits of green roofs are several, including storm/flood mitigation in urban areas, reducing urban heat-island effects, increasing urban ecology and wildlife habitats, increasing usable roof areas as well as aesthetic values. Green roofs have been used to conserve heat in buildings in Scandinavia for centuries and they have gained momentum in European countries, particularly in Germany and more recently in the United States, in order to combat the effects of global warming. Thailand has had intensive green roofs built over commercial buildings for more than three decades but not directly for reducing CO2 emissions. Intensive research is required to find local hardy plants that would be most suitable and require the least maintenances in a country like Thailand, which is situated in a hot and humid region. Generally, green roofs are classified according to three degrees of maintenance: intensive, semi-intensive and extensive which requires the least care.
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Journal of Traditional Thai \& Alternative Medicine; Vo. 7 No. 1 January-April 2009; 5-16