Experimental study on reduced heat gain through green façades in a high heat load climate

• An experimental study is conducted on green wall system for energy efficiency.
• The green wall system is evaluated in extremely hot and arid climate.
• Reduced heat gain into building skin is reported due to green wall.
• On average 5 °C temperature drop is achieved in indoors with green wall compared to bare wall.

The hot and arid climate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yields indoor temperatures much higher than the comfort zone, which poses unique challenges in improving energy performance through building construction systems. The study examines the introduction of green façades to reduce heat gain in indoor spaces as a strategy to lower cooling demand. A vegetative living wall was installed on a school building façades and experimentally studied. The experimental results showed that during day time in the peak summer month of July, the green facade can maintain on average a temperature that is 5 °C lower than a bare wall, consequently impacting building cooling load and improving energy performance.