Maximum Evaporation Capacity with an “Urban Climate Roof”

The sealing of former planted areas continues unabated. This has a considerable impact on the heating up of towns and cities. As a result, global radiation is used in a totally different way. On sealed surfaces, it can no longer be used as an engine for plant growth and can therefore hardly be used for cooling evaporation. This means that the considerable rise in thermal radiation is heating up urban centres and the resulting urban heat islands are having a negative effect on well-being.

There are various types of green roof that can help to counter this. The decisive thing in each case is that there is sufficient water for evaporation. Generally speaking, increased evaporation will always ensure greater cooling capacity in urban centres.

“Standard” green roofs have considerable evaporation capacity when considered across the year as a whole. However, this decreases particularly in hot, dry periods, often to zero evaporation. In contrast, thanks to irrigation, the ZinCo Urban Climate Roof roof with its specially developed plant community will ensure a high level of evaporation also or particularly during hot, dry periods.

The build-up is suitable for roofs from zero pitch up to roofs with a pitch of about 5° and for inverted roofs.

Types of irrigation with an “Urban Climate Roof”

Stormwater Management: Stormwater can be stored during precipitation and used for irrigation during dry periods, given the right climate conditions and project circumstances.

Using Grey Water: The advantage here is that it is always available as a water resource, even in the dry heat of summer. The plants were selected as part of a large-scale research project (funded by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment) specifically due to their suitability for irrigation with grey water.

Ground Water Management: If the quality of the ground water is suitable and it can be made available economically, this type of irrigation is an effective means of large-scale active evaporation.