International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE)
Vol. 03, Issue 04, JUL-AUG, 2016 Pg. 281 - 285 WWW.IJEETE.COM
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY FOR ENERGY SAVING USING GREEN
ROOF BUILDING TECHNIQUE
1
Ali Alzaed
Architecture Engineering Dept., Taif University, Al-Haweiah, P.O. 888, Z.C. 21974, Taif,
Saudi Arabia, Email:dralzaed@gmail.com
Abstract:- In the present work energy saving
using green roof building technique is
investigated and analyzed experimentally.
Temperature distribution for ( 1m 3 ) two building
models, one with green grass insulation and the
other without green grass insulation, is adopted
in this study. Green roofs simply mean the
construction of gardens on rooftops of buildings
and that action needed to prevent water leakage
arrangements through the ceiling and then cover
the roof especially those parks layers designed
and agricultural by soil brushes then do the
planting various plants where. Green roofs serve
several purposes for a building, such as
absorbing rainwater, providing insulation,
creating a habitat for wildlife, increasing
benevolence and decreasing stress of the people
around the roof by providing a more aesthetically
pleasing landscape, and helping to lower urban
air temperatures. Also, Green roofs are a passive
cooling technique that stops incoming solar
radiation from reaching the building structure
below. It is found that the green grass which is
used in the present work is a good insulation for
buildings and it will be more effective in hot dry
regions. Also, the relative humidity reaches
about 60% by using this green grass and it will
be suitable in the hot dry weathers.
Keywords: Buildings; Energy saving; Green
roof; Vegetation; Experimental study.
I. Introduction
One of the urgent and controversial issue that has
been recently received an increasing attention is
building insulation. Actually the insulation of
buildings has significant result in the degree of
energy consumption. The mass development in
ISSN – 2394-0573 All Rights Reserved © 2016 IJEETE
technology has extended to include the insulation
of building which appears in the availability of
synthetic material as well as the natural
insulation techniques to clarify what is meant by
the natural insulation ‫؛‬an example is introduced
by the covering of the walls or ceilings with
growing plants. This natural technique has a
recognizable effects represented by reducing the
degree of heat inside the building on the one
hand ‫ ؛‬and reducing the running off the storm
water. Another positive effect is the purification
of pollutants and carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. The spread of the green roofs is
used here to signify collectors with solar
photovoltaic panels. This term is recently called
ec- roofs, vegetated roofs, and living roofs.
The beginning of this technique was in Europe,
Germany in particular where 17 % of the new
roof is green [1]. Later in 2005, in Switzerland
20% of the flat roofs adopted the green roof
techniques [2]. Nawadays, the USA has a
adopted this technique in Chicago for instance IL
has started an initiative of utilizing the green
roofs technique [3].
Many studies were carried out to investigate the
thermal features of green roofs especially the
vegetarian type. For example Niachou et al. [4].
Made a study of the application of thick dark
green and red vegetation. The results proved that
dark green sample has lower roof temperatures if
compared with those which are covered with red.
Also other studies [5, 6] point out to the cooling
of the roofs that are resulted by the evaporation
from the plants.
Other studies such as Lazzarin et al. [7]
investigated a numerical modeling study
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International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE)
Vol. 03, Issue 04, JUL-AUG, 2016 Pg. 281 - 285 WWW.IJEETE.COM
investigating the green roof system in a dynamic
state with a uni-dimensional analysis using the
finite differences method. Another model has
been studies in which a mathematical method is
used to evaluate the possibility of the cooling of
the green roof [8]. In order to trace the isolative
behavior and the saving of the energy, different
types of vegetations are compared to reach the
best results. They were classified in to three
basic mechanisms which are the solar radiation
which is connected with the shadow produced by
the vegetation, second the evaporation which is
resulted from the plants and their transpiration,
and last mechanism is the thermal insulation.
However, there are disadvantages of the natural
cooling technique because of variable factors
which will definitely lead to varieties in the
results expected of the efficiency of the system.
These factors include the different weather
condition and the differences from one climate to
another.
A rapid use of the natural cooling technique has
been applied for more than one hundred years.
This fact is followed by a sub-development
which applied the mechanical air conditioning
system which replaced the natural cooling. This
step was applied after conducting a sense of
studies which were later referred to as
ROOFSOL [9]. The research chose green [10] as
a place to test their experiments. With regard to
this point Spala et al. focused their study on the
Mediterranean region to check the degree of the
cooling effects [11]. The studies proved to
reduce the energy consumption and its ability to
cool the atmosphere in spring and summer [12].
Despite the fact that there are many studies that
investigated the application vegetation on the
building [13, 14], few studies point out to the
potentiality of the natural cooling is
unrecognized or even were very poor. This fact
is seen especially in the southern hemisphere
where the degree of heat is very high.
Though the vegetation that covers the roof has
its positive results in cooling the atmosphere
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(by evaporative cooling), reducing heating (by
adding mass and thermal resistance value),
reducing storm water run-off and filtering
pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air
which helps lower disease rates such as
asthma. There are some negative aspects of
this method. Perhaps the major shortcoming is
the expensive costs of the preparation of the
green roofs [15]. Another disadvantage is
related to the soil which imposes an extra
burden and heavy weight on the structure of
the building [16]. Even more, some plants
have more burdens in the water proofing
system for tow reason: the water is retained
on the surface, the possibility of the water
penetration of the roofs and probably the most
dangerous disadvantage is the fact that the
vegetation cover of the roofs of the buildings
will attract some pests including insects which
will find in such a green roof a refuge or a
secure home for them. This fact will be
dangerous if we take the possibility of these
insect to enter inside the building through the
windows or any means and sting some
resident of these building. Thus, if the
decision is done to apply the green roof
method, secure measure must be applied to
the building on the one hand, and the safety of
the resident on the other hand.
II. Experimental Study
The red clay hollow blocks or bricks
20 20 20 cm is used to construct two 1m 3
room models. These clay hollow blocks are an
innovation in the construction industry. One
of these models is totally covered by green
grass and the other is uncovered as shown in
Figs. (1a, 1b). Data Logger for temperature
and humidity is shown in Fig. (1c) is used to
measure the temperature and humidity
distribution in the two models during
approximately 10 hrs. The Data Loggers are
placed at the middle of the two models at the
same position in order the comparison will be
at the same conditions.
III. Results and Discussions
Temperature and humidity distribution for ( 1m 3 )
two room models, one with green grass
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International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE)
Vol. 03, Issue 04, JUL-AUG, 2016 Pg. 281 - 285 WWW.IJEETE.COM
insulation and the other without green grass
insulation, is investigated experimentally in this
study. Figure 2 shows the transient temperature
distribution for the two models. It is clear that
from this figure the transient temperature
difference between the two models increases as
the time proceeds and it reaches its maximum
value 13C o at time 16:00 as shown in Fig. 3. At
this time ambient temperature reaches the
maximum value, which means that as the
ambient temperature increases the temperature
difference between the two models increases and
this means that the green grass will be more
effective in hot regions.
Transient relative humidity is shown in Fig. 4. It
is clear that from this figure the green grass will
secure a good human comfort by providing a
suitable relative humidity. Also, it is obvious that
from this figure there is a huge difference in the
relative humidity between the two models. The
relative humidity reaches about 60% by using
green grass and it will be suitable in the hot dry
weather. Another result is taken in the next week
after the first results in (23/Feb./2016) a shown
in Fig.5. Also, good results are achieved and this
confirms that the first results are true and
satisfied.
IV. Conclusions
A green roof, or rooftop garden, is a vegetative
layer grown on a rooftop. Green roofs provide
shade and remove heat from the air through
evapotranspiration, reducing temperatures of the
roof surface and the surrounding air. The green
grass is used in the present work is a good
insulation for buildings and it will be more
effective in hot dry regions. Also, the relative
humidity reaches about 60% by using this green
grass and it will be suitable in the hot dry
weathers.
V. References
List and number all bibliographical references in
[1] Dawson, D., 2002, Plant-covered Roofs Ease
Urban Heat, National Geographic News.
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[2] Brenneisen, S., 2005, The World Green Roof
Congress and Green Roof Week, 1st World
Green Roof Congress, Session, Basel,
Switzerland.
[3] Taylor, D.A., 2007, Growing Green Roofs,
City By City, Environmental Health
Perspectives, vol.115, no. 6: p. A306-A311.
[4] Niachou, A., Papakonstantinou, K.,
Santamouris, M., Tsangrassouls, A.,
Mihalakakou, G., Analysis of the Green Roof
Thermal Properties and Investigation of its
Energy Performance, Energy and Buildings,
vol.33, p. 719-729.
[5] Liu, K., 2003, Engineering Performance of
Rooftop Gardens Through Field Evaluation,
National Research Council Canada: Institute for
Research in Construction.
[6] Sidwell, A., Gibbs-Alley, J., Forrester, K.,
Jost, V., Luckett, K., Morgan, S., Yan, T., Noble,
B., and Retzlaff, W.A., 2008, Evaluation of the
Thermal Benefits of Green Roof Systems,
Proceedings of the 6th Annual Greening
Rooftops for Sustainable Communities
Conference, Baltimore, MD, p. 12
[7] Lazzarin, R.M., Castellotti, F., Busato, F.,
2005, Experimental Measurements and
Numerical Modeling of a Green Roof, Energy
and Buildings, vol.37, p. 1260-1267.
[8] Kumar, R., Kaushik, S.C., 2005, Performance
Evaluation of Green Roof and Shading for
Thermal Protection of Buildings, Building and
Environment, vol.40, p. 1505-1511.
[9] ROOFSOL, Building in ROOFSOL: Roof
Solutions for natural cooling. In: Contract N°
JOR3CT960074, Commission of the European
Communities. DG XII, Science, Research and
Development, 1998.
[10] Niachou A, Papakonstantinou K,
Santamouris M, Tsangrassoulis A, Mihalakakou
G. Analysis of the green roof thermal properties
and investigation of its energy performance.
Energy and Buildings, 33, 2001, p.719-729.
[11] Spala A, Bagiorgas HS, Assimakopoulos
MN, Kalavrouziotis J, Matthopoulos D,
Mihalakakou G. On the green roof system.
Selection, state of art and energy potential
investigation of a system installed in an office
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International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE)
Vol. 03, Issue 04, JUL-AUG, 2016 Pg. 281 - 285 WWW.IJEETE.COM

building in Athens, Greece. Renewable Energy,

33, 2008, p.173-177. Fig. 1a: A 1m 3 room without insolation
[12] Fioretti R, Palla A, Lanza LG, Principi P.
Green roof energy and water performance in the
Mediterranean climate. Building and
Environment, 45, 2010, p.1890-1904.
[13] Palomo E. Roof components models
simplification via statistical linearization and
model reduction techniques. Energy and
Buildings, 29(3), 1999, p.259-281.
[14] Good W. Factors in planted roof design.
Constr. Specific, 43(11), 1990, p.132.
[15] Plant-Covered Roofs Ease Urban Heat".
Retrieved 10 June 2008.
[16] Getter, Kristin L.; Rowe, D. Bradley (2006).
"The Role of Extensive Green Roofs in
Sustainable Development". Hort Science 41 (5): Fig. 1b: A 1m 3 room with green grass insolation
1276–1285.
Biography
Ali Alzaed was born in
Saudi Arabia. He has graduated
B.Sc in Islamic architecture from
Umm Alqura University, his
M.Sc in Advanced Sustainability
of the Built Environment at
University of Dundee and his
PhD in environmental design (passive design)
at University of Liverpool. His interests are:
historical sites in relation with sustainable
dimensions, usage of recycling material as
sustainable building material, passive design
issues and climate change issues.
Fig. 1c: Data Logger for temperature and
humidity which is used in the present work

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International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE)
Vol. 03, Issue 04, JUL-AUG, 2016 Pg. 281 - 285 WWW.IJEETE.COM

Fig. 2: Transient temperature distribution

between the two models with and without Fig. 4: Transient temperature distribution
insulations. Date: 18/Feb./2016, Taif University. between the two models with and without
insulations. Date: 23/Feb./2016, Taif University.

Fig. 3: Transient temperature difference between

the two models with and without insulations.
Date: 18/Feb./2016, Taif University.

Fig. 4: Transient relative humidity distribution

between the two models with and without
insulations. Date: 18/Feb./2016, Taif University.

ISSN – 2394-0573 All Rights Reserved © 2016 IJEETE Page 285