New façade system developed to combat urban heat |
|
|
|
|
 |
| 44 sec |
PhD research: Plant Pixel tested for cooling and water retention
A new type of green façade is designed to help make cities more resilient to heat and heavy rainfall. During her PhD research at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Maricruz Solera Jimenez developed Plant Pixel. The modular system was tested under real-world conditions for aspects including cooling and water retention.
| Image for illustrative purposes, generated with AI |
Green façades can help reduce heat stress, but according to Solera Jimenez, existing modular systems also have disadvantages. They can be expensive, cause relatively high CO₂ emissions during production, and some materials have a short lifespan. Plant Pixel was therefore designed with a focus on circularity and low CO₂ emissions.
|
|
Plant Pixel was developed with a focus on cooling, water retention and circularity
| |
|
500 plants in practical test
For the research, a test installation was built with 500 modules and 500 plants. The system uses materials including recycled plastic, textiles and aluminium. According to the research, the substrate can retain 61 litres of water per square metre. The components were also designed so that they can be assembled and disassembled relatively easily.
The cooling effect was also studied during hot periods. Close to the green façade, a maximum reduction in air temperature of 5.5 degrees Celsius was measured compared with a bare façade. At a distance of 40 centimetres, the maximum difference was 3.3 degree
| Wageningen University and... | |
| |
| LOG IN
with your email address to respond.
|
|
|
| There are no comments yet. |
|
| |
Anyone can place small ads for free through their own account.
Place a free ad
|
|
|
|
