Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment
The use of green roofs is demonstrated to improve the energy performance of buildings, increase biodiversity, reduce environmental impacts of urban areas, and mitigate climate change phenomena. Their use on a large scale is desirable in the coming years. Still, the choice of the most suitable green...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental and Climate Technologies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2022-0072 |
| _version_ | 1811171353287458816 |
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| author | Muscas Desirée Frota De Albuquerque Landi Fabiana Fabiani Claudia Grohmann David Rocchi Lucia |
| author_facet | Muscas Desirée Frota De Albuquerque Landi Fabiana Fabiani Claudia Grohmann David Rocchi Lucia |
| author_sort | Muscas Desirée |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of green roofs is demonstrated to improve the energy performance of buildings, increase biodiversity, reduce environmental impacts of urban areas, and mitigate climate change phenomena. Their use on a large scale is desirable in the coming years. Still, the choice of the most suitable green roof design solution should also consider the impacts of their production. Within this study, the Life Cycle Assessment methodology was used to evaluate the environmental impact of a particular typology of soil-less green roofs ideated by an Italian company. In this lightweight green roof, the growing medium is replaced by recycled felt layers, filtration is guaranteed by geotextile, and a closed-loop sub-irrigation system fertilises the pre-growth lawn placed on the top. The extremely low weight of this system suggests an optimal use in building retrofitting scenarios, but its environmental implication was not known. The environmental impact of this product has been assessed with an attributional cradle-to-gate approach through four different methodologies (ReCiPe midpoint and endpoint H V1.1, Ecological footprint V1.01, and IPCC 2013 GWP 100y V1.0) using the ecoinvent v3, Agri-footprint 1.0, and ELCD database on the SimaPro 8.4.4.0 software. The IPCC method has shown a Global Warming Potential of 7.66 kg of CO2 eq. for 1 m2 of Pratotetto® green roof; however, the reuse of waste materials from the textile industry must be considered. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:12:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b9b0ca9da8143d9924e1378fe9ae679 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2255-8837 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:12:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental and Climate Technologies |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b9b0ca9da8143d9924e1378fe9ae6792023-02-05T19:46:42ZengSciendoEnvironmental and Climate Technologies2255-88372022-01-0126195596710.2478/rtuect-2022-0072Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle AssessmentMuscas Desirée0Frota De Albuquerque Landi Fabiana1Fabiani Claudia2Grohmann David3Rocchi Lucia4International Doctoral Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 93 – 06125Perugia, ItalyCIRIAF Interuniversity Research Center, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 67 – 06125Perugia, ItalyCIRIAF Interuniversity Research Center, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 67 – 06125Perugia, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno, 74 – 06121Perugia, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno, 74 – 06121Perugia, ItalyThe use of green roofs is demonstrated to improve the energy performance of buildings, increase biodiversity, reduce environmental impacts of urban areas, and mitigate climate change phenomena. Their use on a large scale is desirable in the coming years. Still, the choice of the most suitable green roof design solution should also consider the impacts of their production. Within this study, the Life Cycle Assessment methodology was used to evaluate the environmental impact of a particular typology of soil-less green roofs ideated by an Italian company. In this lightweight green roof, the growing medium is replaced by recycled felt layers, filtration is guaranteed by geotextile, and a closed-loop sub-irrigation system fertilises the pre-growth lawn placed on the top. The extremely low weight of this system suggests an optimal use in building retrofitting scenarios, but its environmental implication was not known. The environmental impact of this product has been assessed with an attributional cradle-to-gate approach through four different methodologies (ReCiPe midpoint and endpoint H V1.1, Ecological footprint V1.01, and IPCC 2013 GWP 100y V1.0) using the ecoinvent v3, Agri-footprint 1.0, and ELCD database on the SimaPro 8.4.4.0 software. The IPCC method has shown a Global Warming Potential of 7.66 kg of CO2 eq. for 1 m2 of Pratotetto® green roof; however, the reuse of waste materials from the textile industry must be considered.https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2022-0072climate change mitigationecological footprintenvironmental impact analysisglobal warming potential (gwp)nature-based solutionsrecipesimapro |
| spellingShingle | Muscas Desirée Frota De Albuquerque Landi Fabiana Fabiani Claudia Grohmann David Rocchi Lucia Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment Environmental and Climate Technologies climate change mitigation ecological footprint environmental impact analysis global warming potential (gwp) nature-based solutions recipe simapro |
| title | Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment |
| title_full | Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment |
| title_fullStr | Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment |
| title_short | Zoysia Soil-Less Green Roof’s Performance: A Life Cycle Assessment |
| title_sort | zoysia soil less green roof s performance a life cycle assessment |
| topic | climate change mitigation ecological footprint environmental impact analysis global warming potential (gwp) nature-based solutions recipe simapro |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2022-0072 |
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