Green Roofs Improving Urban Environments in a Changing Climate

Grant number: LP0990704 | Funding period: 2009 - 2012

Completed

Abstract

Green roofs are an emerging climate change adaptation technology that is widespread in Europe and North America, but rare and untested in Australia. Our research will significantly progress the Australian green roof industry by overcoming barriers to their implementation. This will lead to multiple environmental, economic and health benefits at a variety of scales. Benefits for individual buildings include greater energy efficiency, increased roof life and the attenuation of noise. Environmental benefits include biodiversity habitat, reduced volume and improved quality of stormwater flows and cooling of the urban environment. This will further reduce energy use and greenhouse emissions, whil..

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Related publications (12)

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Linking green micro-breaks with mood and performance: Mediating roles of coherence and effort

KE Lee, LD Sargent, NSG Williams, KJH Williams

2018-12-01

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Drought-avoiding plants with low water use can achieve high rainfall retention without jeopardising survival on green roofs

C Szota, C Farrell, NSG Williams, SK Arndt, TD Fletcher

2017-12-15

Green roofs are increasingly being used among the suite of tools designed to reduce the volume of surface water runoff generated b..

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Laboratory tests of substrate physical properties may not represent the retention capacity of green roof substrates in situ

C Szota, TD Fletcher, C Desbois, JP Rayner, NSG Williams, C Farrell

2017-11-27

Green roofs can be used to reduce the volume of polluted stormwater that is generated by cities. Modelling rainfall retention is c..

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Does the turgor loss point characterize drought response in dryland plants?

C Farrell, C Szota, SK Arndt

2017-08-01

The water potential at turgor loss point (Ψ<inf>tlp</inf>) has been suggested as a key functional trait for determining plant drou..

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Developing Australian green roofs: Overview of a 5-year research program

NSG Williams, JP Rayner, KE Lee, TD Fletcher, D Chen, C Szota, C Farrell

2016-02-08

Green or vegetated roofs are increasingly built in cities to provide multiple environmental and social benefits and are an emergin..

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Plant establishment on a green roof under extreme hot and dry conditions: The importance of leaf succulence in plant selection

JP Rayner, C Farrell, KJ Raynor, SM Murphy, NSG Williams

2016-01-01

Plant selection for extensive green roofs has largely been based on cool, temperate climate research. However, as green roof imple..

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40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration

KE Lee, KJH Williams, LD Sargent, NSG Williams, KA Johnson

2015-06-01

Based on attention restoration theory we proposed that micro-breaks spent viewing a city scene with a flowering meadow green roof ..

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Effects of vegetation on green roof ecosystem services

Jeremy T Lundholm, Nicholas SG Williams

2015-01-01

The ecosystem services green roofs provide are influenced by both the engineered and biotic components of green roof systems. This..

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Living roof preference is influenced by plant characteristics and diversity

KE Lee, KJH Williams, LD Sargent, C Farrell, NS Williams

2014-01-01

Living, or green roofs, are increasingly built in cities for their environmental benefits, however there is little evidence about ..

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High water users can be drought tolerant: Using physiological traits for green roof plant selection

C Farrell, C Szota, NSG Williams, SK Arndt

2013-11-01

Background and aims: Green roofs are often installed to reduce urban stormwater runoff. To optimally achieve this, green roof plan..

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Water-retention additives increase plant available water in green roof substrates

C Farrell, XQ Ang, JP Rayner

2013-03-01

Green roofs in hot and dry climates are frequently exposed to drought due to shallow depth and low water holding capacity (WHC) of..

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Green roofs for hot and dry climates: Interacting effects of plant water use, succulence and substrate

C Farrell, RE Mitchell, C Szota, JP Rayner, NSG Williams

2012-12-01

Green roofs are increasingly being constructed in urban environments to provide a range of environmental benefits. However, little..

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