How Living Walls + Green Roofs Can Cool Down Our Cities
London is melting, wildfires are raging across Europe, and Utah is dangerously close to losing its salty lake which has been referred to as a lynchpin in its local ecology. More locally, NYC has experienced a heat wave of its own resulting in temperatures in the high 90s. This has reminded our communities, of the damaging effects of being an Urban Heat Island (UHI). To environmentalists and researchers, these are said to be Earth’s extreme response to climate inaction and these disasters will only become more severe and frequent.
What is UHI?
An Urban Heat Island is a metropolitan or megalopolis area that is significantly hotter than its surrounding more rural areas. This is caused by a variety of factors but the biggest contributors are:
When buildings are densely constructed in cities to support their growing population, anthropogenic or human-generated waste heat increases. Waste heat is caused by transportation methods, air conditioning units, and other heat-emitting technology.
Impervious surfaces and buildings constructed from large amounts of concrete, steel, and brick store latent heat and then continue to release heat after the sun goes down. In the summer season, this can make both outdoor and indoor environments unbearable.
How Can Vegetation Help?
Vegetation works against extreme heat through the combination of evapotranspiration, shading, and solar absorption and reflection. For those who are unfamiliar, evapotranspiration is the movement of water from the plant’s root system into the air, effectively cooling the ambient temperature. Studies have shown that “Evapotranspiration, alone or in combination with shading, can help reduce peak summer temperatures by 2–9°F (1–5°C).” Vegetative roofs and walls will also provide shading for the building itself but species that are incorporated will serve as a canopy for the below impervious areas, especially as they grow. Lastly, foliage absorbs 50% of solar energy, and 30% of solar energy gets reflected. This is extremely beneficial when compared to brick, concrete, and claddings that store and re-emit heat through all hours of the night. Urbanstrong offers design-build-maintenance services for both living wall and green roof systems. Click the button below to reach out about your project!
What Is Urbanstrong’s solution?
Increasing green spaces and vegetative coverage sometimes can be a divisive issue between urban planners, architects and developers. On a high level, it typically comes down to park or parking lot? Both absolutely necessary in dense urban areas but typically always competing for the same real estate. However, here at Urbanstrong, our mission is to educate architects, urban planners and developers on how our living wall and green roof technologies can coexist with city design. Our green infrastructure solutions make it so you don’t have to compromise and can communicate a company’s green initiatives in a very obvious and unique way.
If your project or building is considering a living wall or green roof system, drop us a line! Urbanstrong offers varying living wall technology depending on the client’s goal and budget.
