Quantifying the Fundamental Behavior of Green Roofs in an Urban Environment

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。改善城市环境中基础设施不足或老化状况的一种新出现的替代方案是一种被称为低影响发展（LID）的方法，这种方法不涉及大规模、昂贵的系统的永久化。LID干预措施是用于建筑、地块甚至社区规模的小规模干预措施，以节约或再利用水、管理雨水和/或减少能源需求。由于LID干预措施是分布式的，而不是集中式的基础设施形式，因此它们也有可能在现有基础设施系统中建立弹性。此外，由于成本更低、更灵活？绿色屋顶技术是目前城市环境中越来越多地采用的一种LID干预措施，用于管理雨水影响、改善环境条件和减少能源消耗。绿色屋顶是一个环境系统，它包含了专门的防水和抗根材料层、排水或蓄水层，以及支撑结构上植被的生长介质。屋顶。尽管绿色屋顶在德国已经使用了30多年，但在北美还是相对较新的。尽管如此，绿色屋顶在美国迅速获得了大众的关注，最近成为可持续建筑建设的一个引人注目的组成部分：它们在城市环境中提供了多种好处，包括雨水管理，建筑节能，缓解城市热岛效应和城市空气污染，以及提供栖息地和审美便利。美国的许多团体已经启动了调查绿色屋顶行为的研究项目。这些小组在农村和城郊环境的建筑物上使用仪器化屋顶模型、绿色屋顶平台和更大规模的绿色屋顶，以进一步了解各种不同条件下的绿色屋顶性能。这个项目对正在进行的努力的独特贡献是在密集的城市环境中对广泛的绿色屋顶行为进行量化，在那里，当地生态和气候条件的复杂性，加上建筑密度，可能会显著影响绿色屋顶的性能。在三年的时间里，该项目将发展一个受监测的城市绿色屋顶网络，以量化：(i)不同植物种类和生长介质厚度对绿色屋顶行为的影响；（ii）蒸发蒸腾对雨水保留和减少城市热岛效应的贡献；（iii）绿色屋顶水径流的质量；以及（iv）绿色屋顶捕获空气中的微粒和吸收其他污染物（如二氧化碳）的能力。该项目的结果将用于提高对城市环境中绿色屋顶性能的科学理解，并帮助确定可以最大化预期环境性能目标的绿色屋顶配置。该项目还将确定是否从小型仪器收集数据？绿色屋顶测试箱？城市屋顶上的位置是城市绿色屋顶行为的有用指标，并检查可用地下水/地质环境建模软件在预测绿色屋顶水平衡方面的适用性。该项目将通过在纽约市建立城市绿色屋顶网络来加强研究和教育的基础设施，该网络可以用作研究和教育活动的活实验室。为了将项目成果广泛传播给广大受众，将成立一个名为哥伦比亚大学绿色屋顶联盟的绿色屋顶联盟，为城市利益相关者提供一个独特的论坛，让他们相互交流，扩大他们对城市绿色屋顶行为的了解。学生的研究参与和教育/教学活动也将用来使各级学生了解广泛的绿色屋顶技术及其在城市可持续发展中的潜在作用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).One emerging alternative to improving the state of inadequate, or decaying, infrastructure in urban environments, which does not involve a perpetuation of large scale, costly systems, is an approach known as low impact development (LID). LID interventions are small-scale interventions that be used at the building, lot or even neighborhood scale to conserve or reuse water, mange storm-water, and/or reduce energy demands. Because LID interventions are a distributed, rather than centralized, form of infrastructure, they also have the potential to build resilience into existing infrastructure systems. Furthermore, as less costly and more ?nimble? infrastructures, LID interventions hold promise as urban adaptation strategies in the face of uncertain of climate change impacts A current LID intervention that is increasingly being adopted in urban environments to manage storm-water impacts, improve environmental conditions and reduce energy consumption, is green roof technology. A green roof is an environmental system that incorporates layers of specialized waterproofing and root-resistant materials, drainage or water storage layers, and a growing medium to support vegetation on a structure?s roof. Although green roofs have been in use for over thirty years in Germany, they are relatively new to North America. Nonetheless, green roofs are rapidly gaining popular attention in the U.S. and have recently become a high-profile component of sustainable building construction: They are lauded for provision of multiple benefits in the urban environment, including stormwater management, building energy savings, mitigation of the urban heat island effect and urban air pollution, and provision of habitat and aesthetic amenity. Numerous groups in the U.S. have initiated research programs to investigate green roof behaviors. These groups are using instrumented model roofs, green roof platforms and larger-scale green roofs on buildings in rural and peri-urban environments to further understanding of green roof performance under a variety of different conditions. The unique contribution of this project to this body of ongoing effort is the quantification of extensive green roof behavior in a dense urban environment, where the complexities of local eco- and climatic conditions, coupled with building density, are likely to significantly impact green roof performance. Over the course of three years, the project will develop a monitored Urban Green Roof Network to quantify: (i) the impact of different plant species and growing medium thickness on green roof behavior, (ii) the contribution of evapotranspiration to stormwater retention and reduction of urban heat island effects, (iii) the quality of green roof water run-off, and (iv) the ability of green roofs to trap air-borne particulates and take up other contaminants such as CO2.Results from the project will be used to improve scientific understanding of green roof performance in an urban environment and help identify green roof configurations that can maximize desired environmental performance objectives. The project will also determine whether data collected from small, instrumented ?green roof test boxes? located on urban roof-tops are useful indicators of urban green roof behavior, and examine the applicability of available groundwater/ geo-environmental modeling software for predicting green roof water balance. The project will enhance infrastructure for research and education by establishing an Urban Green Roof Network in New York City that can be used as a living laboratory for research and educational activities alike. In order to widely distribute project results to a broad audience, a green roof consortium, termed The Columbia University Green Roof Consortium, will be formed to provide a unique forum for urban stakeholders to interact and expand their knowledge of urban green roof behavior. Student research participation and educational/ teaching activities will also be used to expose students at all levels to extensive green roof technology and its potential role in urban sustainable development.