Building and Environment 177 (2020) 106875

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Building and Environment

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Thermal barrier effect of green façades: Long-wave infrared radiative

energy transfer modelling
Fabiana Convertino, Giuliano Vox *, Evelia Schettini
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science - DISAAT - University of Bari, via Amendola 165/A, 70126, Bari, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Urban green infrastructures contribute to increase sustainability in cities. Among green infrastructures, vertical
Sustainable city green systems applied on buildings envelope are promising solutions. Green façades, applied to building walls,
Green infrastructure allow a sustainable passive climate control in buildings. Energy modelling of green façade systems allows their
Configuration factor
effective design, simulation and application. Upstream of the modelling there is the mathematical description of
Sky model
Clear sky
the energy transfer that takes place in the system. Radiative heat exchanges in the long-wave infrared range is
one of the mechanisms to be considered. This implies the knowledge of geometric configuration factors, surfaces
radiometric properties and sky radiation models. This paper focuses on the infrared exchanges occurring on the
external surfaces of a green façade, compared with those of a bare wall. A mathematical procedure was followed
to define the configuration factor between ground and vertical surface. Nine different sky radiation models were
applied to find out, through statistical indices, the best fitting one. The analytical study was supported by
empirical data, gathered on an experimental green façade built at the University of Bari. Calculations of the
infrared fluxes were made for a summer, an autumn and a winter period, both daytime and night-time. It resulted
that the sky model of Walton provided the best agreement with the measured data. In winter, the covered wall
showed a reduction of long-wave infrared radiative energy losses equal to 79% compared to the bare wall, so the
green façade acted as a thermal barrier.

1. Introduction
Mitigating climate change and reducing energy consumption are key
challenges for today’s society. Concerning these issues, the building and
construction sector has significant impact, since it accounts for a great
part of global energy consumption and greenhouses gas emissions. In
2017, buildings construction and operations resulted in 36% of global
final energy use and 39% of carbon dioxide emissions [1]. Consequently,
the building sector has a great potential to reverse course in a sustain­
able perspective. Preference for sustainability in materials choice and
use, building design and urban planning measures can allow to realize
this ambitious change.
Urban green infrastructures (UGIs), bringing vegetation inside cities,
are considered one of the most significant efforts to face numerous
environmental problems. In few years, UGIs have become a very
important research topic, especially concerning the ecosystem services,
the improvement of the life quality and the sustainability of urban
development [2–7]. Despite the great variety of themes and approaches
found in the literature, what emerges is that UGIs are a real powerful
way to face with the global challenges and allow cities to become more
sustainable and resilient [8].
Among UGIs, buildings characterized by the application of vegeta­
tion on the envelope can be counted. Plants integration in building en­
velope allows to distinguish mainly green roofs and vertical greening
systems (VGSs). Since 2000, green roofs have been a frequent research
theme, while in more recent years, VGSs have become a more active
research area. Notwithstanding the research work made so far, some
knowledge gaps still exist. One of these concerns the real performance of
such technologies and, thus, the factors influencing it [9].
VGSs include a wide range of technical solutions [10]. They are
characterized by plants covering walls and are widely used outdoor, but,
under suitable conditions, also indoor. VGSs, as UGIs, contribute to the
reduction of the urban heat island effect and the carbon dioxide emis­
sions and to the retention of the rainwater. They provide a positive
impact on building thermal performance and energy saving. Building
energy saving can be obtained by improving envelope performance
[11]. Overall, VGSs improve microclimatic conditions and human
wellbeing [12–17].
Green façades (GFs) are one of the most common types of VGSs.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: giuliano.vox@uniba.it (G. Vox).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106875
Received 27 January 2020; Received in revised form 1 April 2020; Accepted 2 April 2020
Available online 15 April 2020
0360-1323/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.