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Green Roof Ecosystems pp 63–80Cite as

Climates and Microclimates: Challenges for Extensive Green Roof Design in Hot Climates

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Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 223))

Abstract

Green roof systems have been developed and adopted in the temperate and cool-temperate climates of Europe and North America. Although these regions can get extreme weather, they generally do not experience climatic extremes of high temperatures, prolonged drought, and intense rainfall events of tropical and subtropical regions. This presents challenges for green roof design to not only provide adequate growing conditions for plants, but also to improve roof performance with respect to intrinsic (e.g. cooling building, extension of roof membrane lifetime) and extrinsic (e.g. flash flood mitigation, building cooling, reduction of heat island effect) benefits. Therefore, the components of conventional green roof including plant palette, growing media composition and the other synthetic layers need to be modified. The characteristics of green roof water retention, plant water availability, plant selection, and thermal properties are all critical factors which need to be adapted to help address the harsher environmental conditions and performance demands of hot climates. If these problems can be overcome, the combined environmental, ecological and sociological benefits suggest green roofs could be an imperative technology for towns and cities in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

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Authors and Affiliations

    Authors
    1. Mark T. Simmons
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    Correspondence to Mark T. Simmons .

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    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

      Richard K. Sutton

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    Simmons, M. (2015). Climates and Microclimates: Challenges for Extensive Green Roof Design in Hot Climates. In: Sutton, R. (eds) Green Roof Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 223. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14983-7_3

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