Green façades to control wall surface temperature in buildings

Abstract Green facades can represent a sustainable solution for construction of new buildings and for retrofitting of existing buildings, in order to reduce the energy demands of the cooling systems, to mitigate the urban heat island and to improve the thermal energy performance of buildings. Green facades can allow the physical shading of the building and promote evapotranspiration in summer, and increase the thermal insulation in winter. An experimental test was carried out at the University of Bari (Italy) for two years. Three vertical walls, made with perforated bricks, were tested: two were covered with evergreen plants (Pandorea jasminoides variegated and Rhyncospermum jasminoides) while the third wall was kept uncovered and used as control. Several climatic parameters concerning the walls and the ambient conditions were collected during the experimental test. The daylight temperatures observed on the shielded walls during warm days were lower than the respective temperatures of the uncovered wall up to 9.0 °C. The nighttime temperatures during the cold days for the vegetated walls were higher than the respective temperatures of the control wall up to 3.5 °C. The thermal effects of the facades at daytime was driven by solar radiation, wind velocity and air relative humidity. The highest cooling effect of such parameters occurred with a wind speed of 3–4 ms−1, an air relative humidity within the range 30–60% and a solar radiation higher than 800 Wm−2. The long-term experimental test demonstrated that both Pandorea jasminoides variegated and Rhyncospermum jasminoides are suitable for green facades in the Mediterranean climatic area. The results shown in the present research allow to fill the gap in literature concerning the lack of data for all the seasons of the year, in order to obtain a complete picture of the building thermal performance in the Mediterranean climate region.