Evidence of the Climate Mitigation Effect of Green Roofs—A 20-Year Weather Study on an Extensive Green Roof (EGR) in Northeast Germany

Approximately 10 km2 of new green roofs are built in Germany every year. About 85% of these are Extensive Green Roofs (EGR). An EGR with several research features was installed on new buildings belonging to the University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg in 1999. The results of the almost 20-year...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Buildings (Basel) 2019, Vol.9 (7), p.157
Main Authors: Köhler, Manfred, Kaiser, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airports
Buildings
City centres
Climate
Climate change mitigation
Climate effects
climate mitigation
Cooling
Cooling effects
Datasets
Ecosystems
extensive green roofs
global warming
Gravel
Green buildings
Green roofs
Hydrologic cycle
Investigations
Roofing
Roofs
Sensors
surface temperatures
urban heat island effect
Urban heat islands
Vegetation
Weather
Weather stations
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Approximately 10 km2 of new green roofs are built in Germany every year. About 85% of these are Extensive Green Roofs (EGR). An EGR with several research features was installed on new buildings belonging to the University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg in 1999. The results of the almost 20-year permanent survey of the climate effects of the green roof in contrast to gravel roofs are presented here. High-quality sensors, similar to those used by official weather stations, are in use, and data is collected every 10 s and aggregated to hourly values which enable comparisons to official measurements made by the DWD in Neubrandenburg and Berlin. The results show the typical urban heat island effect (UHI) and the mitigation effect of EGR. Whilst the temperature increased over the years due to the urban heat island effect, the temperature within the growing media in the green roof remained constant. The EGR has a stabilization effect of 1.5 K. This is good news for all those seeking a UHI mitigation solution for city centers. In a best-case scenario, the green roof potential of cities in Germany is between 3 and 8%. A value of 50% can be achieved for all buildings; roofs represent about ¼ of urban surfaces, and the cooling effect of 1.5 K in 20 years is a reasonable contribution to cooling cities and achieving environmental goals by greening urban surfaces.
ISSN:2075-5309
2075-5309
DOI:10.3390/buildings9070157