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Research has shown the environmental benefits of green envelopes, as well as performance in terms of energy efficiency. To date, there is no analysis of the economic sustainability of these systems, which has allowed the realization of a few, albeit very well known, examples. The research has identified a green modular system integrated into the building envelope, designed to facilitate installation and maintenance, with competitive performance compared to other existing solutions; a system that wants to improve performance and flexibility of vertical applications, experimented on buildings, on the market, and able to adapt, above all, to the needs of the building process. It is important to distinguish architectural aesthetic requirements from those of the building process; the former aim to have an authentic vertical garden, with different kinds of plants where nature dictates the rules, the latter aims to achieve the economic sustainability of vertical greenery systems. This paper provides an analysis of a technique based on the installation of plant bearing modular panels with turf on substructures also provided with a micro-irrigation system, which allows the construction of a modular coating, characterized by reduced thickness, that can also be integrated with other materials; installation is quick and simple, since the panel comes perfectly planted on site. In addition to that it allows, from a botanical point of view, resorting to types of grass selected with a view to climate, exposure, environmental adaptability, color and shape. A comparative analysis of this green façade is also presented compared to other existing case studies, from a constructive and managerial point of view, highlighting both its economic and architectural advantages.

A mathematical model that governs unsteady coupled moisture and heat energy transport through an exterior wall covered with vegetation is described. The unknown temperature and moisture content of the plants and canopy air are represented by a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The transport of moisture and heat through the support structure, which includes insulation and soil layers, is defined in a series of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs). After setting out the model, this article presents and discusses a set of numerical applications. First, a simplified system consisting of a brick wall covered with climbing vegetation is used to study the role of individual variables (e.g., wind speed, minimum stomatal internal leaf resistance, leaf area index, and short-wave extinction coefficient) on the hygrothermal behaviour of the green wall. Thereafter, more complex green wall systems comprising a bare concrete wall, mortar, cork-based insulation (ICB), soil and vegetation are used to evaluate the influence of the thermal insulation and substrate layers on the heat flux distribution over time at the interior surface of the wall, and on the evolution of the relative humidity, water content, and temperature throughout the cross section of the green wall. The numerical experiments proved that vegetation can effectively reduce exterior facade surface temperatures, heat flux through the building envelope and daily temperature fluctuations.

Los jardines verticales forman parte de una de las tendencias tecnológicas constructivas más modernas, conocidas como “Greenery Systems”. Estas son aplicadas cada vez con más frecuencia en aquellas construcciones donde se priorizan consideraciones energéticas y ecológicas conciliables con el medio ambiente. Algunas de las características relevantes que presentan son la mejora del aislamiento térmico, el filtrado de polución ambiental, la absorción acústica, la retención de agua y una estética amigable. Los jardines verticales pueden poseer características acústicas disímiles entre ellos, debido a que dependen del tipo de soporte, sustrato y vegetación utilizada. Por ese motivo en la actualidad los datos existentes son muy variados e incompletos, y resulta necesario ampliar los mismos para disponer de mayores variantes constructivas con aplicación práctica. En este trabajo se estudió la absorción acústica de un sistema de jardín vertical del tipo modular. Cada módulo fue realizado sobre una base rígida de PVC, revestida de material fibroso, con el cual se conformaron bolsillos. En ellos se alojó el sustrato y la vegetación. Las especies vegetales que se utilizaron son algunas de las más difundidas en la región, a fin de lograr una buena adaptación y un mantenimiento sencillo., Vertical gardens, called "Greenery Systems", are a new tendency in modern constructions. They are applied increasingly more frequently on those buildings where energy and ecological considerations, environmentally friendly, are a priority. Some main features of these technologies are: thermal insulation improvement, environmental pollution filtering, acoustic absorption, water retention and a friendly aesthetic appearance. Vertical gardens can have dissimilar acoustic features because they depend on the kind of support, substrate and vegetation used. For this reason, nowadays, collected data are very diverse and incomplete and it is necessary to expand the data available to provide more alternatives with practical application. In this work, acoustic absorption of modular vertical greening was studied. Each module was developed with a rigid PVC base covered with fibrous material forming pockets, where the substrate and vegetation were placed. The plant species that were used are some of the most widespread ones in the region, in order to achieve a good adaptation and simple maintenance., Facultad de Ingeniería, Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires

During the last decade, vertical greenery systems are increasing their presence in building designs, providing several urban ecosystem services. One of them is the potential to provide energy savings in buildings, which develops an important role, however, data about its performance during winter periods is still scarce. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to compare at real scale the thermal performance of two different vertical greenery systems implemented in experimental houses-like cubicles for both cooling and heating periods. A double-skin green facade has been installed in the first cubicle that uses deciduous creeper plants, while the second one is designed with green walls made with evergreen species. Finally, a third identical cubicle without any green coverage is used as reference. Two different types of experiments have been carried out to test the performance of the house like-cubicles. One consists of controlling the internal ambient temperature providing heating or cooling to maintain the desired comfort conditions. On the other hand, to study the thermal response of the construction system, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was disconnected and the cubicles were tested under free floating condition. First results showed a high potential for energy savings during cooling season for green wall (58.9%) and double-skin green facade (33.8%) in comparison to the reference system. On the other hand, for heating periods no extra energy consumption was observed for evergreen system. The work partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER), ENE2015-64117-C5-3-R (MINECO/FEDER) and ULLE10-4E-1305) in collaboration with the company Buresinnova S.A (C/Saragossa, 95 Entsol 3a, 08006 BARCELONA). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2014 SGR 123) and to the city hall of Puigverd de Lleida. This study has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013) under Grant agreement Nº PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 657466 (INPATH-TES). Alvaro de Gracia would like to thank Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad de España for Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2014-19940. Julià Coma would like to thank the Departament d'Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya for his research fellowship.

Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) are promising contemporary Green Infrastructure which contribute to the provision of several ecosystem services both at building and urban scales. Among others, the building acoustic insulation and the urban noise reduction could be considered. Traditionally vegetation has been used to acoustically insulate urban areas, especially from the traffic noise. Now, with the introduction of vegetation in buildings, through the VGS, it is necessary to provide experimental data on its operation as acoustic insulation tool in the built environment. In this study the acoustic insulation capacity of two VGS was conducted through in situ measurements according to the UNE-EN ISO 140-5 standard. From the results, it was observed that a thin layer of vegetation (20–30 cm) was able to provide an increase in the sound insulation of 1 dB for traffic noise (in both cases, Green Wall and Green Facade), and an insulation increase between 2 dB (Green Wall) and 3 dB (Green Facade) for a pink noise. In addition to the vegetation contribution to sound insulation, the influence of other factors such as the mass factor (thickness, density and composition of the substrate layer) and type of modular unit of cultivation, the impenetrability (sealing joints between modules) and structural insulation (support structure) must be taken into account for further studies. The work was partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2011-28269-C03-02, and ULLE10-4E-1305), in collaboration with the company Buresinnova S.A (C/ Saragossa, 95 Entsol 3ª, 08006 BARCELONA). Moreover, the research leading to these results has received funding from the Eurpean Commission Seventh Framework Programm (FP/2007–2013) under Grant agreement No. PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 657466 (INPATH-TES). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2014 SGR 123), to the City Hall of Puigverd de Lleida, and to Gestión Medioambiental de Neumáticos S.L. and Flag Soprema S.L.U. companies. Alvaro de Gracia would like to thank Education Ministry of Chile for Grant PMI ANT1201. Finally, Julià Coma wants to thank the Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya for his research fellowship.

Vertical greenery systems (VGS) are effective at solving urban heat. They can absorb noise pollution and dust, and, aesthetically, they are positively perceived. Systems using hydroponic irrigation and nutrition, in combination with mineral wool as a base, are light and effective (they are able to hold water, with a high percentage of air, and a good mechanical structure to hold the plant stable). However, the functionality of a system can be compromised if the water supply is depleted or the irrigation system fails. This deficiency can be partially remedied if a certain amount of biochar or a suitable organic fertilizer is also a part of the system. The research task consisted of verifying this assumption and determining the effective amount of the biochar. Samples with different amounts of biochar were examined under the same temperature and humidity conditions, extended drying times, additional costs, and safety tank size savings were found. Subsequently, the effective amount of the biochar was determined by the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. It has been experimentally verified that biochar has a positive effect and prolongs the drying time, the additional costs are almost offset by the benefits. It should be noted that the results are valid for central Europe, and may be modified for different climate and economic zones.

Green noise barriers have become an alternative means of reducing urban traffic noise. In this paper, the acoustic performance of a modular greenery noise barrier is evaluated. In situ measurements of noise reflection were performed using an experimental prototype to estimate the sound absorption coefficients. These coefficients were found to have values of approximately 0.7, higher than those previously found in laboratory measurements for a similar system with a lower vegetation density. The obtained values were input into software for predicting environmental noise to analyse the expected performance of such barriers, particularly in the case of a pair of parallel barriers. A comparison with the results for reflective barriers indicates a significant improvement in sound attenuation of up to 4 dBA. The values are similar and even superior to results reported by other authors regarding the effectiveness of absorptive treatments applied to parallel barriers, and furthermore, the proposed barriers offer an aesthetic element for environmental integration.

Greenery on buildings is being consolidated as an interesting way to improve the quality of life in urban environments. Among the benefits that are associated with greenery systems for buildings, such as energy savings, biodiversity support, and storm-water control, there is also noise attenuation. Despite the fact that green walls are one of the most promising building greenery systems, few studies of their sound insulation potential have been conducted. In addition, there are different types of green walls; therefore, available data for this purpose are not only sparse but also scattered. To gather knowledge about the contribution of vertical greenery systems to noise reduction, especially a modular-based green wall, two different standardised laboratory tests were conducted. The main results were a weighted sound reduction index (Rw) of 15 dB and a weighted sound absorption coefficient (a) of 0.40. It could be concluded that green walls have significant potential as a sound insulation tool for buildings but that some design adjustments should be performed, such as improving the efficiency of sealing the joints between the modular pieces. The authors would like to thank the FEDER of the European Union for financial support via the project ‘‘G-GI3000/IDIX SILENTVEG: Barreras vegetales autónomas y sostenibles para la mitigación acústica y compensación del CO2 en vías de transporte, con seguimiento telemático’’ of the ‘‘Programa Operativo FEDER de Andalucía 2007-2013’’.