Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System
Living walls are becoming a widely used water-sensitive urban design technology that can deliver various economic, social and environmental benefits. One such benefit is to cool the surrounding environment through the process of evapotranspiration. This study measured the evapotranspiration from an...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-11-01
|
| Series: | Water |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/22/3759 |
| _version_ | 1797463732713947136 |
|---|---|
| author | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward |
| author_facet | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward |
| author_sort | Rosmina A. Bustami |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Living walls are becoming a widely used water-sensitive urban design technology that can deliver various economic, social and environmental benefits. One such benefit is to cool the surrounding environment through the process of evapotranspiration. This study measured the evapotranspiration from an instrumented prototype-scale living wall and calculated the resulting evaporative cooling effect. The range of the measured evapotranspiration rates from the living wall was from 41 to 90 mL/mm per plant pot. This equated to latent heat of vaporisation values from 171 to 383 MJ/month/m<sup>2</sup>. This was then compared with the performance of a non-vegetated water-sensitive urban design technology, namely, a porous concrete pavement. For a typical summer month in a warm temperate climate, it was found that a porous concrete pavement system only had between 4 and 15% of the cooling effect of an equivalent living wall. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:54:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f017e440df14621974976e523c6018d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:54:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f017e440df14621974976e523c6018d2023-11-24T10:22:33ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412022-11-011422375910.3390/w14223759Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement SystemRosmina A. Bustami0Simon Beecham1James Hopeward2UNIMAS Water Centre (UWC), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan 94300, Sarawak, MalaysiaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management, University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, AustraliaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management, University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, AustraliaLiving walls are becoming a widely used water-sensitive urban design technology that can deliver various economic, social and environmental benefits. One such benefit is to cool the surrounding environment through the process of evapotranspiration. This study measured the evapotranspiration from an instrumented prototype-scale living wall and calculated the resulting evaporative cooling effect. The range of the measured evapotranspiration rates from the living wall was from 41 to 90 mL/mm per plant pot. This equated to latent heat of vaporisation values from 171 to 383 MJ/month/m<sup>2</sup>. This was then compared with the performance of a non-vegetated water-sensitive urban design technology, namely, a porous concrete pavement. For a typical summer month in a warm temperate climate, it was found that a porous concrete pavement system only had between 4 and 15% of the cooling effect of an equivalent living wall.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/22/3759water-sensitive urban designliving wallporous pavementevaporative coolingurban heat island |
| spellingShingle | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System Water water-sensitive urban design living wall porous pavement evaporative cooling urban heat island |
| title | Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System |
| title_full | Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System |
| title_fullStr | Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System |
| title_short | Evaporative Cooling Effect of Water-Sensitive Urban Design: Comparing a Living Wall with a Porous Concrete Pavement System |
| title_sort | evaporative cooling effect of water sensitive urban design comparing a living wall with a porous concrete pavement system |
| topic | water-sensitive urban design living wall porous pavement evaporative cooling urban heat island |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/22/3759 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rosminaabustami evaporativecoolingeffectofwatersensitiveurbandesigncomparingalivingwallwithaporousconcretepavementsystem AT simonbeecham evaporativecoolingeffectofwatersensitiveurbandesigncomparingalivingwallwithaporousconcretepavementsystem AT jameshopeward evaporativecoolingeffectofwatersensitiveurbandesigncomparingalivingwallwithaporousconcretepavementsystem |