Design frequently involves a series of tradeoffs to obtain the “optimal” solution to a design problem. Green roofs have many different characteristics based on a variety of variables. Designers typically weigh the impacts of these characteristics in an implicit process based on intuition or past experience. But since vegetated roofing is a relatively complex and comparatively new technology to ...

The built environment contributes around half of total greenhouse gas emissions and with 87% of residential buildings that we will have by 2050 already built, it is vital to adopt sustainable retrofitting practices. The question is: what are the viable solutions? One answer may be green roof retrofitting. The environmental benefits include reduced operational carbon emissions, reduced urban hea...

This paper addresses green roof maintenance in Mediterranean areas. A field survey is presented, describing building and roof systems of eleven case studies in Portugal, anomalies, causes and maintenance actions. The most affected system components were the vegetation layer, followed by the drainage system, substrate and paths. All inspected green roofs have regular maintenance, mainly concerni...

The application of phase change materials (PCMs) in green buildings has been increasing rapidly. PCM applications in green buildings include several development models. This paper briefly surveys the recent research and development activities of PCM technology in building applications. Firstly, a basic description of phase change and their principles is provided; the classification and applicat...

Green Roofs (GRs) are increasing in popularity due to their ability manage roof runoff while providing a number of additional ecosystem services. Improvement hydrological models for the simulation GRs will aid design individual roofs as well city scale planning that relies on predicted impacts widespread GR implementation. Machine learning (ML) has exploded recent years, however there no studie...