The effect of the orientation and proportion of a plant-covered wall layer on the thermal performance of a building zone

The aim of the present work is to analyse thoroughly the influence of the orientation and proportion (covering percentage) of plant-covered wall sections on the thermal behaviour of typical buildings in the Greek region during the summer period. As to the effect of construction parameters, the layer position of masonry/insulation has been also considered. The investigation has been carried out using a thermal-network model that adequately simulates the building zone under assumption; its validation was based on experimental results from a recently reported study. The model makes provision for several heat-flow paths in order to take into account the leaf cover on the external wall surface, heat transfer through the surfaces that constitute the building envelope, and natural ventilation. The influence of orientation and covering percentage of plant foliage for walls with different configurations was studied using representative outdoor environmental data for the zone location at a specific time period.