Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies

Green roofs could act as a thermal buffer in buildings and offer potential energy savings. However, the energy benefits from green roofs are not usually properly recognised by traditional building energy regulations. Building energy regulations are traditionally over-simplistic during the assessment...

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Main Authors: Kokogiannakis, Georgios, Darkwa, Jo
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48304/
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author Kokogiannakis, Georgios
Darkwa, Jo
author_facet Kokogiannakis, Georgios
Darkwa, Jo
author_sort Kokogiannakis, Georgios
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Green roofs could act as a thermal buffer in buildings and offer potential energy savings. However, the energy benefits from green roofs are not usually properly recognised by traditional building energy regulations. Building energy regulations are traditionally over-simplistic during the assessment of the energy performance of complex building constructions. In the case of green roof designs, it is essential that the assessment mechanisms should not ignore the complex heat and moisture balances within the green roof layers. In this paper, dynamic energy modelling that considers the complexity within the green roof layers is adopted to guide policy makers in China on the relationship between using specific thicknesses of roof insulation against green roof layers. Simulations are run for a residential building type by also considering different thermal envelope characteristics across eight large Chinese cities and within the five main climatic zones of China. Results that link the green roof characteristics with respective traditional insulation layers are produced for all cities and it is found that optimising the plant and soil characteristics of green roofs in some climates could substitute more than 125 mm of roof insulation, while less optimum green roof types could only replace about 25 mm of roof insulation.
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spelling nottingham-483042020-05-04T16:40:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48304/ Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies Kokogiannakis, Georgios Darkwa, Jo Green roofs could act as a thermal buffer in buildings and offer potential energy savings. However, the energy benefits from green roofs are not usually properly recognised by traditional building energy regulations. Building energy regulations are traditionally over-simplistic during the assessment of the energy performance of complex building constructions. In the case of green roof designs, it is essential that the assessment mechanisms should not ignore the complex heat and moisture balances within the green roof layers. In this paper, dynamic energy modelling that considers the complexity within the green roof layers is adopted to guide policy makers in China on the relationship between using specific thicknesses of roof insulation against green roof layers. Simulations are run for a residential building type by also considering different thermal envelope characteristics across eight large Chinese cities and within the five main climatic zones of China. Results that link the green roof characteristics with respective traditional insulation layers are produced for all cities and it is found that optimising the plant and soil characteristics of green roofs in some climates could substitute more than 125 mm of roof insulation, while less optimum green roof types could only replace about 25 mm of roof insulation. Elsevier 2014-02-01 Article PeerReviewed Kokogiannakis, Georgios and Darkwa, Jo (2014) Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies. Energy, 65 . pp. 71-79. ISSN 1873-6785 Green roofs; Dynamic energy modelling; Energy regulations; Heating and cooling energy savings; Insulation levels https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.11.076 doi:10.1016/j.energy.2013.11.076 doi:10.1016/j.energy.2013.11.076
spellingShingle Green roofs; Dynamic energy modelling; Energy regulations; Heating and cooling energy savings; Insulation levels
Kokogiannakis, Georgios
Darkwa, Jo
Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title_full Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title_fullStr Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title_full_unstemmed Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title_short Support for the integration of green roof constructions within Chinese building energy performance policies
title_sort support for the integration of green roof constructions within chinese building energy performance policies
topic Green roofs; Dynamic energy modelling; Energy regulations; Heating and cooling energy savings; Insulation levels
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48304/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48304/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48304/