Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

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Energy and Buildings

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Drought tolerance and thermal effect measurements for plants suitable for
extensive green roof planting in humid subtropical climates
T.-C. Liu a , G.-S. Shyu b , W.-T. Fang c , S.-Y. Liu a , B.-Y. Cheng d,
a

Department of Horticulture, National Chung Hsing University, 250, Kuokuang Rd., Taichung 402, Taiwan
Department of Environmental Management, Tungnan University, 152, Sec. 3, Beishen Rd., Shen-keng District, New Taipei City 222, Taiwan
c
Department of Leisure and Recreation Management, Chung Hua University, 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Rd., Hsinchu City 30012, Taiwan
d
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 8 October 2011
Received in revised form
25 November 2011
Accepted 26 November 2011
Keywords:
Thin layer green roof
Drought tolerant plant
Thermal effect measurement
CAM plant

a b s t r a c t
This study aims to investigate the physiology, endurance, and environmental thermal regulatory effects
of plants suitable for thin layer green roofs, to provide reference for plant selection in future green
roofs. Water conservation and drought tolerance experiments are carried out on 31 types of plants in
Taichung, in central Taiwan. The drought tolerance of various plants was investigated. Thermal effect
experiments were performed on 10 types of plants. The results from this study show that plants suitable
for thin layer green roofs resist drought conditions through physiological mechanisms such as succulent
foliage, surface cuticles, mucilaginous substances, hairs or spines, and the Crassulacean acid metabolism
(CAM). Plants that grew well came from the families Crassulaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Portulacaceae.
When temperature reduction effectiveness was measured in regard to plant height, the best reductions
in temperature occurred in 35 cm plants, followed by 15 cm and then 10 cm plants. Green leafed plants
have better temperature reduction effects than purple/red leafed plants. The plants suggested in this
study are suitable for regions with subtropical climates. Selecting thin layer green roof plants that resist
drought, survive well, and decrease temperature effectively can adequately use water resources and
realize green building concepts such as ecological friendliness, energy conservation, carbon emissions
reduction, and water conservation.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Swift urban expansion has made green spaces relatively scarce.
Anthropogenic heat from motor vehicles, air conditioning, and factory equipment has been increasing relentlessly. Buildings and
roads built with materials with the characteristics of high heat
retention and absorption, combined with the disruption of wind
ows by tall buildings, increase the environmentally stored heat
in urban areas and create urban heating [13]. Climate record over
the last 100 years show that temperatures in Taiwan is increasing
at a signicantly higher rate than in other parts of the globe and in
the oceanic area surrounding Taiwan. The temperature difference
between day and night is twice the worldwide average [4,5]. These
signicant changes indicate that Taiwan is under the inuence of
a heat island effect. The heat island effect creates a vicious cycle
of urban energy concentration [4]. The heat from the city cannot

Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 2363 1879.

E-mail addresses: treeliuok@gmail.com (T.-C. Liu), gsshyu@mail.tnu.edu.tw (G.S. Shyu), wawaf@hotmail.com (W.-T. Fang), be1215ssie@gmail.com (S.-Y. Liu),
biyocheng@gmail.com (B.-Y. Cheng).
0378-7788/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.11.043

be removed, increasing the temperature and the use of air conditioning [6]. Indoor air conditioning and lighting make up 8% of
electricity use in Taiwan during the summer. According to statistics
from Taiwan Power Company (referred to as Tai-power), electricity consumption from air conditioning increases 6% for every 1
of outdoor temperature rise, which is a signicant amount of consumption.
Many researchers have indicated that the most effective way to
relive the worsening of urban thermal environments and reduce the
heat island effect is to increase the area of greenery [69]. Green
roong is a general technique that has been used in many countries around the world [10,11]. It is proven to be effective in both
hot and cold climates. Currently, its functions are widely utilized
and researched, especially for energy conservation and pollution
reduction. Urban greening is an effective approach in improving
the quality of living environments and reaching the important indicators for ecological harmony: energy conservation and reduction
of carbon emissions [12]. In recent years, the Taiwanese government has established many regulations to promote urban greening.
For urban land classied for use as parks, green spaces, or childrens
playgrounds, the area of greenery must not be lower than 10% of the
area for total development. Currently, however, this target ratio has

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

not yet been attained in Taiwan. The greeneries in Taiwanese cities

are insufciently planned and unevenly distributed. Urban heating
is accelerating, which highlights the problem of insufcient greenery prevalent in Taiwans urban environment; namely, greenery is
insufcient to temper the urban heating environment. Thus, urban
greening is the direction of future urban planning in Taiwan.
Countries around the world are promoting green building to
solve the problem of insufcient urban green spaces, by creating
more horizontal and vertical surface green areas [13]. This will
prevent solar heat from entering indoors, lowering indoor temperatures, and reducing the use of air conditioning. Green construction
not only lowers temperature and saves energy, but also helps in
the control of the microclimate, improves visual scenery, creates
an ecological environment for greater biodiversity, slows rainwater runoff, protects buildings, reduces air pollution, reduces noise,
relieves the pressure of urban living, and provides horticultural
therapy [14]. Buildings receive twice as much solar radiation from
rooftops than from vertical surfaces. Thus, rooftop greening is an
effective way to reduce temperatures. However, there are some
drawbacks in green roofs construction. When some inappropriate selections of roof planting from materials without scientic
rigor, these vegetation types will be led to fragile looking into their
shorter life cycles associated with poor maintenance. Improper
designs of green roofs likely result in aforementioned problems (i.e.,
leaking and overweight roofs but unnecessary loading effects) after
the substrates have been lled up with soils, these approaches may
be redundant in water supply as well as excessive uses of budgets
beyond energy saving. There are some inherent limitations while
utilizing green roofs with weighted substrates. Due to roof loading
limitation for the sake of building safety, a thin-substrate layer roof
has been considered to apply currently [12,13,15].
There are insufcient experimental results with reference to
Taiwan. Studies conducted in Europe and the United States of their
climatic conditions are different from Taiwan, and cannot be used as
effective references. Therefore, the goal of this study is to enhance
plant selection for rooftop greening by testing the water conservation, drought tolerance, and thermal effects of plants specic to the
climate of Taiwan.

181

100% coverage. Thermal effects were measured after allowing the

plants to grow stably on the rooftop environment for a certain
period.
2.2. Experimental environments
With an outdoor experimental environment of high average
humidity of 71.5 3.4(%), the tableland is located in a subtropical monsoon region with relative dried autumn-winters and warm
summers. August temperatures average 28.7 C, and November
temperatures average 22 C. Annual average precipitations in dried
months ranged dramatically from 12.4 mm to 818.8 mm. The solar
radiation hours were detected at 169.9 29.8 h/month. The experimental location was at the top oor of an eight oor building free
of shade from surrounding buildings. Wind speed was detected
at an average of 6.9 2.1 m/s. A thin layer of green roof plants
was planted in this environment for experiments in un-watered
drought tolerance and thermal effects.
2.3. Experimental method for drought tolerance
Thirty-one types of plants were planted in separated planting
dishes. After 3 months of stable growth with regular watering,
drought experiments followed by halting all watering by humans
and leaving the plants to grow under natural environment conditions on the rooftop. The period of experimentation was from
August 1, 2009 to December 1 2009; a total of 123 days, for roughly
4 months. The rainfall information below came from the Central
Weather Bureau.
The aim of this study was to investigate the tolerance for dehydration of different types of plants, and to use the observation
results to determine their drought tolerance. Photographic records
were kept to continuously observe plant growth conditions and
survival rates. The results were analyzed visually, and separately
discussed in the following two groups:

2. Materials and methods

i. Plants are classied into one of ve categories of growth to analyze drought tolerance. The categories included normal growth,
stunt growth, obviously wilted apical leaves only, and dead.
ii. Days of normal growth for plants were graphed to visually represent the drought tolerance capabilities of different plants.

2.1. Experimental materials

2.4. Thermal effect experimental methods

This study uses planting dishes to cultivate a thin layer green

roof plants. Planting dishes are divided evenly with plastic boards.
Planting dishes are placed directly upon the rooftop. The choice of
drought tolerant plants uses 31 common succulent plants, Sedums,
and CAM type plants as the main experimental materials for
drought tolerance (Table 1). This includes plant families such as
Commelinaeceae, Bromeliaceae, Crassulaceae, Portulacaceae, Asteraceae, Aizoaceae, Euphorbiaceous, Lamiaceae, and Liliaceous.
Nine plants with large morphology differences from the three
categories including ground cover plants, Crassulacean plants,
and shrub plants are selected for concurrent thermal effect observation (Table 2). As different heights and leaf colors are required
for the plants in this experiment, plant selection is not limited to
the plants in drought tolerance experiments. Bryophyllum pinnate
was chosen to measure thermal effects from plant height, as it has
an easily identiable height, even internodes length, and even leaf
cover. For the measurements of thermal effect due to leaf color,
Ipomoea batata was selected due to its identical morphologies for
leaves of different colors, and its obvious differences in leaf color.
Both these plants were chosen for their easily identiable morphologies, large amount of leaf coverage, and their availability of
different leaf colors. All plants were planted in planting dishes with

This study sought to understand the temperature reduction benets of different plant characteristics, individual height, and leaf
color. The capabilities for environmental heat modulation for different plants were analyzed by actual measurement and comparisons.
The test site was located on a rooftop of an 8 storey building, without shade from surrounding buildings. The plants could have been
inuenced by meteorological factors such as strong wind, cloud
cover, and solar radiation. These factors were not controlled, so
that the observational data could represent realistic scenarios.
2.4.1. Experimental apparatus and calibration
In this study, thermocouple wire and infrared thermal imagers
were used concurrently in prescribed positions for measurement
of plant characteristics in the thermal effect experiment, to investigate the inuence of plant characteristics on environmental
thermal regulation. The equipment used in this study included an
infrared thermal imager, a K type thermocouple wire, and a CR 800
data recorder.
All objects above 0 K (273.15 C) emitted infrared rays are
formed within the range of electromagnetic spectrum. According
to Plancks law, the certain amount of energy emitted by a black
body is determined as a function of frequency by its wavelength of

182

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

Table 1
Plant characteristic table for the 31 plants in the drought tolerance experiments.
Species

The original habitat

Plant height

Plant morphology

Leaf thickness

Leaf size

Creeping

Erection

Thin

Small

Mexico

Inter-American
Tropical Rainforest
South Africa
South America

Low
Setcreasea pallida
Rhoeo spathaceo cv.
Compacta
Setcreasea purpurea
Boom
Billbergia spp.
Kalanchoe thyrsiora
Kalanchoe longiora
var. coccinea
Echeveria
atropurpuream
Neoregelia Fireball
Portulacaria afra
Pachyveria
pachyphytoides
Walth
Portulacaria afra f.
variegata
Echeveria cv. Black
Prince
Echeveria cv.
Hanatsukiyo
Echeveria carnicolor
Echeveria
chihuahuaensis
Sedum nussbaumerianum
Bitter
Graptopetalum
paraguayense
Echeveria pulidonis
Sedum
pachyphyllum
Rose
Tagetes lemmonii
Aptenia cordifolia
Kalanchoe
hildebrandtii
Euphorbia
stenoclada
Pedilanthus
tithymaloides cv.
Nanus
Plectranthus
socotranum
Pogostemon cablin
cv. Variegata
Pogostemon cablin
(Blanco) Benth
Pedilanthus
tithymaloides (L.)
Poit
Gasteria gracilis
Baker
Kalanchoe milloti
Kalanchoe
fedtschenkoi

Mexico
Cultivation

Medium

High

Mexico

South America
South Africa
Mexico

Cultivation

Leaf color
Medium

Large

Green

Mexico

Mexico

Mexico
Mexico

Mexico, Guatemala,
South America
South Africa
Madagascar

Madagascar

Cultivation

Southeast Asia

India, Africa

Malaysia, India

Cultivation

Madagascar
Madagascar

Africa

2hc 2
1

5
ehc/kT 1

(1)

where  is wavelength, T is the absolute temperature of the

black body, h is the Planck constant (6.625 1034 J s), c is the
speed of light (3 108 m/s), and k is the Boltzmann constant
(1.38066 1023 J/K). The relationship between spectral radiance
with wavelength can be calculated from Eq. (1). In this study, the

Mexico
Mexico

Mexico

Purple/red

Cultivation

spectral radiance. The law was named originally after Max Planck
(18581947) during 1900 [16,17]. Plancks law is written as following Eq. (1):
W (, T ) =

Thick

results of radiance by leaves are determined by the type of low

energy with long-wavelength which can be detected by infrared
thermal imager. The infrared thermal imager, with a sensitivity
of 0.07 C, was used at a certain broad range from temperature
between 40 C and 1500 C. The framed LCD, at 320 (H) 240
(V) pixels, can be observed from the distribution of the images
represented digital thermal records by panoramic functions.
2.4.2. Measurement target and time
The experimental measurements were divided into three parts.
The rst part was the concurrent measurement of nine plants with

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

183

Table 2
Plant characteristic table for the 10 plants in the thermal effect experiments.
Species

The original habitat

Plant height
Low

Kalanchoe garambiensis
Bryophyllum pinnatum
Lam. Kurz
Ipomoea batata
Sedum lineare cv.
robustum
Callisia repens L.
Rhoeo spathaceo cv.
Compacta
Sansevieria trifasciata
cv. Hahnii
Zoysia matrella
Torilis japonica (Houtt.)
DC.
Ixora williamsii cv.

Tropical America
Horticultural
cultivars
Africa and Asia
Tropical Asia
Tropical South
America
Tropical Asia

High

Plant morphology

Leaf thickness

Leaf size

Creeping

Thin

Small

Americas
Tropical Africa
Tropical America
Europe

Medium

Erection

different characteristics; with one planting dish each, total of nine

dishes. The second part concerned plants of three different heights.
For each type there were three dishes, total of nine dishes. The third
part involved measurements of thermal effects due to leaf color.
Three dishes for each of plant type were employed in this experiment, total of six dishes. All plants were measured for their thermal
effects three days after identical watering, to account for temperature variations from different soil moistures. Measurements
were made between 10:30 am and 3:00 pm on the 3 days: namely
November 8, November 20, and November 21, 2010.
2.4.3. Measurement positions and reducing uncertainty
Temperature measurements were made concurrently at xed
points on the leaf surfaces and below the plants. Atmospheric and
oor temperature were also measured at the same time to study the
temperature reduction effects from the plants. Measurements were
taken every minute during the designated hours. Leaf surface temperatures were taken by the infrared thermal imager, and sampled
throughout the surface to analyze the change in surface temperature. Each planting dish has been installed with a thermocouple
wire. To reduce measurement error in calculating average temperature, this experiment has been repeated 3 samplings by each
leaf colors of species and detected mean temperatures by spatial
systematic samplings to reduce measurement errors. The minutes
measurement units detected from thousands of calculated detailed
data could be reduced experimental errors with condences significantly.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Selection of plants for thin layer green roofs by physiological
characteristics
Plants have different coping strategies for light stress, thermal
stress, and drought stress. The three strategies cross inuence each
other. Environments with high levels of light and temperature easily lead to drought stress. Thus, stress coping mechanisms such as
leaf reection, leaf position change, and evaporative cooling are
evolved. Water is a necessary factor for plants to sustain life; thus,
drought stress is an essential factor in plant survival. The level of
drought tolerance is the critical factor for a successful thin layer
green roof [18].
Succulent plants cope with drought stress via mechanisms such
as succulent foliage, surface cuticles, mucilaginous substances,
hairs or spines, and the Crassulacean acid metabolism [19,20].
Suitable plants for thin layer green roofs in Taiwan selected from
research literature are listed in Table 1. CAM type plants resist

Leaf color
Medium

Large

green

Purple/red

Thick

drought stress by closing stomata, accumulating malice acids, and

through the succulent esh of their foliage [21]. CAM type plants
living in deserts have adapted to large temperature differences
between day and night, and may accumulate large amounts of
organic acid. Thus, the suitable environment for desert-adapted
CAM type plants is highly similar to the rooftop environment,
which makes them suitable plants for rooftop cultivation. Plants
screened for suitability in thin layer green roofs which are adapted
to subtropical climates include plants from the Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, Portulacaceae, Crassulaceae, Euphorbiaceous, Lamiaceae, and
Liliaceae families. Jungle epiphytes are not suitable for thin layer
green roofs.
3.2. Drought tolerance experiment and analysis of results
A total of 31 types of plants suitable for thin layer green
roofs were tested between August 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.
The average temperature during the 4 month period was 28.2 C.
The temperature was highest in September, reaching 29.3 C. The
rooftop environment was under intense daylight, often recording
temperatures above the daily average. During the experimental period there were two typhoons in early August and early
October, which brought heavy rainfall. This raised the rainfall quantity in August to 810.8 mm less rainfall between September and
November was observed in one of the representative areas of humid
subtropical climates. Total rainfall in the experimental period was
958.9 mm. Early in the experiment, all plants grew well due to the
abundant rain provided by the typhoon. Almost no rainfall occurred
after the typhoon, and the plants have to survive by their own
endurance against lack of water. By observing the growth of the 31
types of thin layer green roof plants over 123 days, the plants were
classied into the categories of normal growth, stunted growth,
obviously wilted, apical leaves only, and dead. The results are discussed below.
(1) Plants with normal growth:
Portulacaria afra, P. afra f. variegate, and Euphorbia stenoclada
are succulent shrubs that grew short and small due to the thinny
soil layer, but withstood lack of water well, and are thus suitable for a rooftop climate. The four succulent plants Kalanchoe
longiora var. coccinea, Kalanchoe hildebrandtii, Kalanchoe milloti, and Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi continued normal growth under
environments of water deciency. They are highly effective in
utilizing water and are adequate drought tolerant plants.
(2) Plants with stunted growth:
Kalanchoe thyrsiora, Pachyveria pachyphytoides Walth,
Echeveria cv. Hanatsukiyo, Sedum nussbaumerianum Bitter,

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

Species

184
Aptenia cordifolia
Tagetes lemmonii
Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth
Echeveria carnicolor
Pogostemon cablin cv. 'Variegata'
Plectranthus socotranum
Echeveria cv. Black Prince
Setcreasea Pallida
Graptopetalum paraguayense
Rhoeo spathaceo cv Compacta
Gasteria gracilis Baker
Sedum pachyphyllum Rose
Echeveria pulidonis
Echeveria chihuahuaensis
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
Echeveria atropurpuream
Pedilanthus thymaloides(L.) Poit
Setcreasea purpurea Boom
Pedilanthus thymaloides cv. 'Nanus'
Billbergia spp.
Echeveria cv. HANATSUKIYO
Pachyveria pachyphytoides Walth
Kalanchoe thyrsiora
Sedum nussbaumerianum Bier
Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi
Kalanchoe millo
Euphorbia stenoclada
Kalanchoe hildebrandi
Portulacaria afra f. variegata
Portulacaria afra
Kalanchoe longiora var.coccinea

10
15
20
20
32
32
32
40
41
66
70
70
70
70
70
70
82
82
87
87
97
108
108
112
123
123
123
123
123
123
123

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

day
Fig. 1. Days of normal growth for plants in drought tolerance experiment.

Pedilanthus tithymaloides cv. Nanus, and P. tithymaloides (L.)

Poit are all succulent plants with eshy leaves which encounter
water deciency. These plants ceased growth to counter the
drought stress, and are good drought tolerant plants.
(3) Obviously wilted plants:
None of the plants Setcreasea purpurea Boom, Billbergia spp.,
Setcreasea pallida, or Rhoeo spathaceo cv. Compacta are succulents. They have thinner leaves that lack water storage
functions, thus the plants appear obviously wilted. However,
growth may resume if water is provided. These are plants that
are mildly drought tolerant. Echeveria chihuahuaensis, Echeveria
pulidonis, Sedum pachyphyllum Rose, and Gasteria gracilis Baker
are the fewer droughts tolerant of the succulents. They are also
classied as mildly drought tolerant.
(4) Plants with only apical leaves remaining:
The four echveria-like plants Graptopetalum paraguayense,
Echeveria atropurpuream, Echeveria cv. Black Prince, and Echeveria carnicolor are plants that estimate temporarily during
the summer. Autumn is their period of high growth. If the
soil is too dry, then the old leaves wilt away. The later part
of the experimental period occurred during the autumn, during which the plants require water supply for growth. Under
dry conditions, the plants may gradually proceed toward death
due to their inability to absorb water. Wilting their leaves,
however, is the third line of defense for plants under conditions of water scarcity. All ve plants G. paraguayense, E.
atropurpuream, Echeveria cv. Black Prince, E. carnicolor, and
Neoregelia Fireball were left with their apical leaves, which
kept the whole plant alive to sprout new buds after rainfall. These plants are considered to be mildly susceptible to
drought.
(5) Dead plants:
The four plants Tagetes lemmonii, Plectranthus socotranum,
Pogostemon cablin cv. Variegata, and P. cablin (Blanco) Benth
are non-succulent plants. Their leaves died due to their inability to store enough water for droughts of long duration. Aptenia
cordifolia prefers warm environments, and is more suitable for
growth between March and June. During the high temperature
summer environment between July and October, A. cordifolia
gradually died of intolerance to the heat.

As can be seen in Fig. 1, the seven plants P. afra, P. afra f. variegate, E. stenoclada, K. longiora var. coccinea, K. hildebrandtii, K.
milloti, K. fedtschenkoi can grow well for at least 123 days; followed by S. nussbaumerianum Bitter (112 days), K. thyrsiora (108
days), and P. pachyphytoides Walth (108 days). These ten plants
are suitable for growing in the subtropical climate of Taiwan; and
will be able to adapt to the dry and hot environments on rooftops,
demonstrating high water utilization efciency during the experiments; and are suitable for growing in thin layer green roofs. The
nine plants A. cordifolia (10 days), T. lemmonii (15 days), P. cablin
(Blanco) Benth (20 days), E. carnicolor (20 days), P. socotranum
(32 days), P. cablin cv. Variegata (32 days), Echeveria cv. Black
Prince (32 days), S. pallida (40 days), and G. paraguayense (41 days)
could not grow well, and exhibited slowed down growth. They are
considered non drought tolerant in their inability to adapt to dry
environments.
Though plants with high drought tolerance belong to different
families and have different leaf morphologies, sizes, and colors,
each have their own respective drought coping mechanisms to
adapt to environmental stress. Their common point is that they
are all succulent plants with eshy leaves that serve as organs for
water storage. Drought tolerant plants are common in the genus
Kalanchoe under the family Crassulaceae. There are 200 species in
the genus Kalanchoe, which are mainly distributed in Madagascar
and tropical Africa, with a few species in Asia. They are succulent
herbaceous plants with characteristic adventitious buds that may
be grown into small plants. Easily bred, highly drought tolerant,
and simple to cultivate, they are the top choices for drought tolerant plants, and are well suited to a desert like rooftop microclimate
with large daily temperature variations.
3.3. Thermal effect analysis or different plants
We measured the thermal effects for nine plants, including
Zoysia matrella, Kalanchoe garambiensis, Torilis japonica (Houtt.)
DC., Bryophyllum pinnatum Lam. Kurz, R. spathaceo cv. Compacta,
Sedum lineare cv. robustum, Ixora williamsii cv., Sansevieria trifasciata cv. Hahnii, and Callisia repens L., by comparing the differences
in temperatures on leaf surfaces and below the plants. Leaf surface
temperatures were taken with infrared thermal imagers (Fig. 2(a)).

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

185

Fig. 2. Thermal effect analysis from infrared thermal imager on (a) nine types of plants; (b) Bryophyllum pinnatum of different plant heights; (c) Ipomoea batata of different
leaf colors.

Data was captured via image planar analysis, which reduces

potential errors from complicated plant morphology. Temperatures below the plants were obtained from point averages in the
planting dish. The time measurements were taken between 10:30
and 15:00, where the data was calculated automatically every
minute, total to the record of 271 each day.
The results are shown in Table 3. The lowest average temperature on the leaf surface is that of T. japonica (Houtt.) DC. at 35.8 C.
The highest average surface temperature occurs on C. repens L. at
46.7 C. Analysis of leaf surface temperature from Fig. 3(a) shows
that temperatures for both T. japonica (Houtt.) DC. (35.8 C) and I.
williamsii cv. (36.8 C) were lower than 40 C, which was signicantly different from other plants. Leaf surface temperatures for
succulent plants are all obviously higher. CAM type plants close the
stomata to reduce their evaporation rate as part of the stress coping mechanism, so the C3 type plants have higher evaporation rates
than CAM type plants [22]. The difference in leaf evaporation rates

explains the lower leaf surface temperature of T. japonica (Houtt.)

DC. and I. williamsii cv. when compared against other succulent
plants.
The difference between plant leaf surface temperature and the
temperature under the plant was the highest for S. trifasciata cv.
Hahnii with an average temperature difference of 17.9 C; and the
lowest for T. japonica (Houtt.) DC. at 5.5 C. The cooling effect can
be observed by comparing the reduction of temperature beneath
the plant and the ground temperature. I. williamsii cv. leads the
temperature reduction with a 17.1 C difference, followed by S. trifasciata cv. Hahnii at 17.5 C and B. pinnatum Lam. Kurz at 15.9 C.
C. repens L. scored the least reduction at 10.2 C. As the top oor
is concrete ground with high temperatures around 3540 C, the
difference between the ground temperature and the temperature
underneath the plant can exceed 15 C.
Even under conditions of identical plant height, leaf color, and
morphology, the temperature differences between plants were still

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T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

Table 3
Thermal effect analysis for nine types of plants.

L, Temp. Max
UL, Temp. Max
G, Temp. Max
D, Temp. Max
L, Temp. Min
UL, Temp. Min
G, Temp. Min
D, Temp. Min
L, Temp. Mean
UL, Temp. Mean
G, Temp. Mean
D, Temp. Mean
Max(L vs. UL)
Min(L vs. UL)
Mean(L vs. UL)
Max(G vs. UL)
Min(G vs. UL)
Mean(G vs. UL)
T test (L vs. UL)
T test (G vs. UL)
T test (D vs. UL)

Zoysia
matrella.

Kalanchoe
garambiensis

Torilis japonica
(Houtt.) DC.

Bryophyllum
pinnatum Lam.
Kurz

Rhoeo
spathaceo cv.
Compacta

Sedum lineare
cv. robustum

Ixora williamsii
cv.

Sansevieria
trifasciata cv.
Hahnii

Callisia
repens L.

49.9
41.5
54.0
33.5
31.2
20.2
35.0
27.1
42.1
30.4
44.7
29.5
21.0
1.6
11.7
27.3
3.9
14.3

54.1
36.8

40.6
37.3

53.6
33.4

53.5
40.1

51.9
34.5

40.8
30.3

52.8
31.5

55.0
40.6

33.3
24.2

26.8
22.7

32.6
24.4

32.1
25.7

30.0
21.0

29.7
24.0

34.4
22.8

34.4
28.9

46.1
31.5

35.8
30.2

44.7
28.8

44.4
33.6

42.8
29.3

36.8
27.2

45.6
27.6

46.7
34.6

23.2
4.5
14.6
23.9
3.9
13.2

11.3
1.6
5.5
20.8
6.7
14.5

23.9
5.1
15.9
23.7
8.2
15.9

16.2
3.6
10.9
15.3
5.3
11.2

22.9
1.7
13.5
25.9
4.4
15.4

13.9
3.3
9.6
26.3
8.5
17.5

26.7
6.1
17.9
27.1
7.1
17.1

18.1
3.5
12.1
16.5
4.2
10.2

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

0.16

***

***

***

Note: L, leaf, UL, underneath, G, ground, D, daily. Temperature difference test by using T test.
Max indicate the difference maximum temperature with two measurements location.
Mix indicate the difference minimum temperature with two measurements location.
Mean indicate the difference median temperature with two measurements location.
* p < 0.05.
** p < 0.01.
***
p < 0.001.

very pronounced. Plant temperature is affected by many factors,

such as rate coverage, penetration rate, reection rate, absorption
rate, and evaporation rate. Based on our experiments, some plants
reduced roof-heat has been detected their representative characteristics such as: B. pinnatum Lam. Kurz, I. williamsii cv., and S.
trifasciata cv. Hahnii, respectively.
Thus, the plant morphology, leaf composition, size, shape, angle,
and type all create varying inuence on each factor. This is why we
decided to perform an in situ experiment for common green roof
plants in Taiwan.

3.4. Thermal effect analysis for plant height

We measured the thermal effect on B. pinnatum with different
plant heights. The leaf surface temperatures were measured with
infrared thermal imagers (see Fig. 2(b)). Planar temperature data
were obtained using infrared data processing software from 10:30
to 13:30 at a sampling interval of one minute, with a total of 181
records during each measurement.
The results are shown in Table 4 and Fig. 3(b). Leaf surface
temperature analysis indicates that for maximum, minimum, and

Table 4
Thermal effect analysis for Bryophyllum pinnatum of different heights.
H 35 cm

H 15 cm

H 10 cm

L, Temp. Max
UL, Temp. Max
L, Temp. Min
UL, Temp. Min
L, Temp. Mean
UL, Temp. Mean
Max(L vs. UL)
Min(L vs. UL)
Mean(L vs. UL)
Max(G vs. UL)
Min(G vs. UL)
Mean(G vs. UL)
T test (L vs. UL)
T test (G vs. UL)
T test (D vs. UL)

38.0
30.7
20.2
23.8
29.7
27.3
13.84
5.91
2.4
22.88
9.2
16.0

38.5
32.4
22.9
27.2
31.8
30.0
8.66
6.03
1.8
18.75
9.13
13.4

40.1
33.1
24.7
27.6
33.6
30.4
8.92
4.7
3.2
17.93
8.5
12.9

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

0.20

**

T test

35 vs. 15

15 vs. 10

10 vs. 35

L
UL

***

***

***

***

***

***

Note: L, leaf, UL, underneath, G, ground, D, daily. Temperature difference test by using T test.
Max indicate the difference maximum temperature with two measurements location.
Mix indicate the difference minimum temperature with two measurements location.
Mean indicate the difference median temperature with two measurements location.
* p < 0.05.
**
p < 0.01.
***
p < 0.001.

Ground temperature

Daily temperature

50.1

33.5

37.3

28.2

43.4

30.1

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

(a)

Zoysia matrella.

55

Torilis japonica Hou.

DC.
Bryophyllum
pinnatumLam.Kurz
Rhoeo spathaceo cv
Compacta
Sedum lineare
cv.'robustum'
Ixora williamsii cv.

45
40
35
30
25

Sansevieria trifasciata cv.

Hahnii
Callisia repens L

me
55

(b)

Average temp. underneath

the plant with a 35 cm
height
Average temp. underneath
the plant with a 15 cm
height
Average temp. underneath
the plant with a 10 cm
height
ground temp.

Temperature C

50
45
40
35
30

55

10:30
10:40
10:50
11:00
11:10
11:20
11:30
11:40
11:50
12:00
12:10
12:20
12:30
12:40
12:50
13:00
13:10
13:20
13:30

25
20

(c)

daily temp.

me

50

Temperature C

Table 5
Thermal effect analysis for Ipomoea batata of different leaf colors.

Kalanchoe garambiensis

50

10:30
10:45
11:00
11:15
11:30
11:45
12:00
12:15
12:30
12:45
13:00
13:15
13:30
13:45
14:00
14:15
14:30
14:45
15:00

Surface Temperature C

60

Average temp. underneath

the green leafed Ipomoea
batata

45
40
35

Average temp. underneath

the purple leafed Ipomoea
batata

30

daily temp.

25
20
10:30
10:40
10:50
11:00
11:10
11:20
11:30
11:40
11:50
12:00
12:10
12:20
12:30
12:40
12:50
13:00
13:10
13:20
13:30

ground temp.

Time

187

L, Temp. Max
UL, Temp. Max
L, Temp. Min
UL, Temp. Min
L, Temp. Mean
UL, Temp. Mean
Max(L vs. UL)
Min(L vs. UL)
Mean(L vs. UL)
Max(G vs. UL)
Min(G vs. UL)
Mean(G vs. UL)
T test (L vs. UL)
T test (G vs. UL)
T test (D vs. UL)
T test (LG vs. LP)
T test (ULG vs. ULP)

Green
plant

Purple
plant

Ground
temperature

Daily
temperature

35.7
30.4
22.0
26.8
31.2
29.0
6.0
5.3
2.2
22.6
11.7
18.7

35.0
32.6
21.3
28.8
30.5
31.4
3.4
8.8
0.9
20.1
11.0
16.2

52.33

36.87

39.8

29.7

47.7

33.2

***

***

***

***

***

***

**
***

Note: L, leaf, UL, underneath, G, ground, D, daily. Temperature difference test by

using T test.
Max indicate the difference maximum temperature with two measurements location.
Mix indicate the difference minimum temperature with two measurements location.
Mean indicate the difference median temperature with two measurements location.
* p < 0.05.
**
p < 0.01.
***
p < 0.001.

comparisons showed a high degree of signicance (p < 0.001). This

indicated that plants with heights below 15 cm are still stable in
their effects in lowering ground temperature. Statistical tests conducted on the difference between leaf surface temperatures and the
temperatures beneath the plants for plants with heights of 35, 15,
and 10 cm found them to be signicantly different from each other.
This proves that plant height is an important factor in creating
temperature differences.

Fig. 3. Variation against time on plant leaf surface temperature and temperature
beneath plants for (a) nine types of plants; (b) Bryophyllum pinnatum of different
plant heights; (c) Ipomoea batata of different leaf colors.

3.5. Thermal effect analysis for plants with different leaf colors

average leaf surface temperatures, the temperatures for plants with

heights of 35 cm were lower than those with height of 15 cm; which
was in turn lower than the temperatures from plants with a 10 cm
height. Taller plants have more leaves, which overlap each other to
reduce average leaf surface temperature. Leaf surface temperatures
for lower lying plants were correspondingly higher. The reason
is that while the leaves covered by other leaves, the upper-layer
leaves exposed to sunlight which are higher in surface temperature than that of the lower-layer leaves without exposing to full
sunlight conditions.
The temperature variation for B. pinnate at different heights is
large, with average temperature variation of 15.2 to 16.5 C. Rooftop
ground temperature compared with the temperature beneath the
plant temperature also differed greatly. With an average plant
height of 35 cm, the maximum difference can reach 22.9 C and the
average temperature difference reached 16 C. For plant heights at
15 cm and 10 cm, the average temperature difference also reached
13.4 C and 12.9 C. This shows that higher plants with more layers
of leaves may cover each other to reduce the solar radiation that
reaches the ground [23]. After a difference test between leaf surface temperatures, temperatures beneath the plants, atmospheric
temperatures, and ground temperatures, the results indicate that
in this experiment except for plant heights of 15 cm, where the
difference between the atmospheric temperature and the temperature beneath the plant was insignicant (p > 0.05) all other

I. batata with different leaf colors were employed for thermal

effect measurements. Leaf surface temperatures were obtained by
infrared thermal imagers (Fig. 2(c)). Infrared data processing software sampled the planar surface data from 10:30 to 13:30 once
every minute, at the total measurements of 181.
Table 5 shows that the average surface temperature for green
leafed I. batata was 31.2 C, while the purple leafed variety averaged 30.5 C. The leaf surface temperature for green leafed I. batata
was higher than that of purple leafed I. batata. The lowest average temperature beneath the plant was that of the green leafed I.
batata at 29.0 C, which was 4.2 C lower than the average daily temperature. The temperature underneath the purple leafed I. batata
was even higher than the leaf surface temperature. This proves
that the green I. batata exhibited the largest temperature difference between the temperature under the plant and the ground
temperature; indicating that it was best for lowering the ground
temperature (Fig. 3(c)).
Different tests between leaf surface temperature, temperature
underneath the plant, atmospheric temperature, and ground temperatures all showed to be highly signicantly different (p < 0.001).
When testing for the difference between green and purple leaves,
signicant differences were found between them (p < 0.001), proving leaf color to be an important factor in temperature difference. As
green I. batata leaves have higher reectivity than purple I. batata
leaves, they are benecial in lowering temperature. Through the
thermal ground experiments, it was shown that the green I. batata

188

T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188

leaves reduce absorbed solar radiation energy better, by having

higher reectivity than purple I. batata leaves.
4. Conclusions
Through on-site testing, this study seeks plants that are suitable for thin layer green roof in Taiwan. The results indicate that
plants from CAM type families, Portulacaceae, Crassulaceae, and
Euphorbiaceae, are more droughts tolerant, and may survive for
long periods without watering by humans. They are suitable for
thin layer green roofs in subtropical climates, and survive solely
by natural rainfall on rooftop conditions in Taiwan. The results
of this study show that temperature reduction effects decrease
with plant height in the following pattern: 35 cm > 15 cm > 10 cm.
The results also indicate that plants with green colored leaves are
more effective in rooftop heat insulation. When green engineering
becomes a commonplace in cities, the plants may bring extremely
positive effects to the ecological environment [12]. Many cities in
western countries have realized their own potential for greening,
and have made urban greening a public activity through incentive
plans, laws, and promoting building standards. This study hopes
to jumpstart local green roof deployment by providing a reference
for design, and make the major cities in Taiwan eco-friendly green
cities.
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