Verde verticale negli edifici. Campagna sperimentale per la valutazione delle prestazioni termiche di una parete verde in area mediterranea

In recent decades, as a result of increasing attention to environmental issues, the greening of external envelope is a concrete investment in saving energy in buildings, reducing air pollution and UHI, and improving the quality of the environment and biodiversity. Nowadays the green façades can bring significant thermal benefits to the buildings in which they are placed through the shading and evapotranspiration of the foliage, resulting in a reduction in both the external surface temperature and that of the internal environments. This paper forms part of the research project “BETA – BEnessere Termoigrometrico in Ambiente interno ed esterno e risparmio energetico mediante vertical greenery systems (VGS)” under development at the DICAR of the University of Catania. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a green façade as a strategy for the improvement of indoor thermal comfort in a prototype lightweight building, as well as understanding the effects on the surrounding outdoors based on the outer surface temperature achieved by the walls. To this purpose, a micro-scale analysis of two lightweight prefabricated modules, one equipped with a green façade and one not, located at the University Campus of Catania is performed. We obtained good results from thermo-fluid dynamics simulations (© ENVI-met software) about thermal behavior induced by the vegetated vertical screen realized using the “Trachelospermum jasminoides” that is installed on the west-facing wall of one of the two prefabricated modules. These data prompted us to continue our research by means of an in situ measurement campaign aimed at evaluating indoor microclimate parameters and temperatures on the surfaces of the prototype walls. This paper reports the first obtained results, with particular reference to the indoor air temperature values of the two test rooms. They already allow us to formulate the first comparisons between in situ measurements and simulations.