Energy and Buildings, 11 (1988) 181 - 199
Climatological Uses of Plants for Solar Control and
the Effects on the Thermal Environment of a
Building
AKIRA HOYANO
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatuta, Midoriku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 227 (Japan)
SUMMARY
The following climatological uses o f
plants were chosen to study how they control
solar radiation, reduce the cooling load and
improve the indoor and outdoor thermal
environment: (a) a pergola composed o f a
horizontal wisteria sunscreen; (b) a vine
sunscreen designed for a south-west veranda;
(c) an ivy sunscreen covering a west wall;
(d) a row o f evergreens placed next to a west
wail; (e) rooftop turf planted on layers o f
loam and perlite. An outline o f each experi-
ment and the remarkable results for solar
control are presented.
1. INTRODUCTION
It is widely admitted that the proper ar-
rangement of plants around buildings n o t
only has psychological effects b u t also im-
proves unfavorable microclimatic conditions
around these buildings [1]. When architects
and planners design a thermal environment,
they require the available data which can
indicate the effects of each climatological
use of plants. However, little data has been
available for the quantitative analysis of
h o w the planting technique affects the
building's thermal environment or h o w it
provides energy savings.
On the other hand, the climatological use
of plants for solar control is a good practical
example. In low latitudes, solar control is
the most basic construction m e t h o d of
building to create a comfortable indoor
and o u t d o o r thermal environment or to
reduce the cooling load. Especially in Japan,
where a m e t h o d to obtain high passive cooling
effects such as evaporative cooling cannot
be expected to be effective, due to high
0378-7788/88/$3.50
181
humidity in addition to high temperatures
in summer [2], complete solar control is
required.
In these circumstances, I have been con-
ducting experiments on the effects of cli-
matological uses of plants. Five types of
use are chosen as follows:
(a) a pergola composed of a horizontal
wisteria sunscreen;
(b) a vine sunscreen designed for a south-
west veranda [3, 4];
(c) an ivy sunscreen covering a west wall
[5];
(d) a row of evergreens placed next to a
west wall;
(e) r o o f t o p turf-planting layers [6].
This paper presents the outline o f each
experiment and the solar control effects.
2. SOLAR SHADING BY WISTERIA SUNSCREEN
AND THE THERMAL ENVIRONMENT CREATED
IN THE PERGOLA
Taking a pergola composed of a horizontal
plant screen, which effectively provides a
wider shaded area than the single standing
tree, the thermal environment created in the
pergola is clarified.
2.1. Outline o f experiment
A wisteria sunscreen installed in Kinder-
garten A in F u k u o k a City was employed
for the experiment. As can be seen from
Figs. 1 and 2, the wisteria sunscreen has a
long side, 15 m (east to west), and a short
side, 4 m (south to north), and a height of
2.5 m. The leaves of the wisteria sunscreen
produce dense multiple layers which are al-
most uniform in the growing season. At 14 m
away from the wisteria sunscreen, on the
north side, the building o f the Kindergarten
© Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands
182

PLAN Y(C) Y(D)

Measured p o i n t s at the ground

I I exposed to s o t a r r a d i a t i o n
\ hlrja2 in,rar.d
I I
Y(C)' Y(D)'
W i s t e r i a sunscreen" Measured p o i n t s under pergo%a

R. ~ .Q

--~B-d-~ . . . . . . . . ~T . . . . . . . . -~g-na~o-x" Ground ~i- Kindergar%en

I ~OOO I ~OnO 1 3000 l~ooO I ~O00 1 I 4oo0 I 14ooo' h~nl

I t~ooo I I 19~oo I
NORTH VIEW EAST VIEW

Heasured items under pergola and at open ground

I Leaf temp. of wisteria screen 5 Globe temperature at 1.0m height
2 Solar transmittance of screen 6 Solar radiation from the surrounding at 1.0s height
3 Horizontal distribution of air temp. 7 Horizontal solar radiation on sandbox and ground
4 Wind velocity at 1.0m height 8 Surface temp. of sandbox and ground
Fig. 1. Pergola with a wisteria sunscreen.

Fig. 2. North view of the pergola from the second floor of the kindergarten building.

is located and l 0 m away from it, on the
east side, a church is located. T he south-
west side is open ground. On the bare soil
in th e space unde r the sunscreen is a sandbox
having the same size as the screen. T he
position of each measuring point is indicated
in Fig. 1.
2.2. Solar t r a n s m i t t a n c e o f wisteria sun-
screen
In Fig. 3, the solar transmittance of the
sunscreen by solar altitude is plotted. The
solar transmittance is a value obtained by
dividing the filtered horizontal solar radia-
tion measured directly under the wisteria
screen by t he horizontal whole-sky solar
radiation simultaneously measured at the
open ground. The measured points were
located on bot h the long and short sides o f
the screen with an interval o f 15 cm. The
deviation between measured points was
7 - 8%, and there was usually no difference
caused by the solar altitudes between 40 °
and 70 °, the object angle for the sun shading.
For the horizontal solar radiation on the
sandbox, the profiles in the direction of the
short side are shown in Fig. 4. In the Figure,
the distribution is expressed as the ratio
against t hat at the open ground. It changed
with the solar movement, and according to
 183

Clear day,Aug.8,1984
20- oX-X'
• Y(C)-Y(C)'
• Y(D)-Y(D)'
•e

D (see Fig.l) o o
A .
15-
,.p o
4-~ o # o
o
z~ o o o •
w o "

oo o •
o .o°%% o ~..~
"~ / o o N.'o °
oo
o
o°
. . . . .
o~ o
~.'2"
I
~e
o •
5I - °° ., o
oO
I
I I I I I
40 ° 50 ° ~° 70 °
Solar altitude (degree)

Fig. 3. Distributions of solar transmittance of the wisteria sunscreen.

the solar radiation filtered through the
wisteria sunscreen, the sky radiation and the
reflected solar radiation from the surrounding
objects as well. The values around the centre
part were smallest being 10% approximately.
2.3. Surface temperature distribution o1'
wisteria screen
The leaf temperatures of the wisteria sun-
screen were expected to be different at the
top and bottom surfaces. To confirm this,
both surface temperatures were measured
using an infrared thermometer. Figure 5
shows the relation of the temperatures
C l e a r s u m m e r days
"~ 11%
oo
O/
between the top and bottom surfaces. On
clear days the temperature of the top surface
was higher than that of the bottom surface;
however, both temperatures were almost
the same on cloudy days. In the nighttime,
the temperature of the top surface decreased
to lower than that of the bottom surface
due to atmospheric radiation. Throughout
a day, however, the temperature difference
between the top and bottom surfaces was
only about 2 °(3 maximum. Furthermore,
in Fig. 6, the relation between the tem-
perature difference (leaf temperature -- air
temperature under the wisteria sunscreen,
h = 1.0 m) and the horizontal solar radia-
tion is shown. Up to a solar radiation of
AA AA

Clear summer days

"U L. m
,.., 35
®
: ;i°ot2°o's:oo-':oo
rJ • 12:00-18:00 / e
CO

m o Cloudy ~ ••

m / 1 / ¢1
.,-i
S
,.p
30

W
w

m
o

rj
2,'

"r. f~ w
South North n. I I I
O 25 30 35
Sandbox
Bottom surface of wistsri! sunscreen ("C)
Section: Y(C)-Y(C)'
Fig. 5. Relationship of surface temperature between
Fig. 4. Horizontal distributions of solar radiation the top and the b o t t o m of the wisteria sunscreen
incident on the sandbox under the pergola. measured by thermal infrared camera.
184

4 to about 30 cm from the ground surface at

+ 4: 00-6: 00, 18:00-4:00
the center of the wisteria sunscreen on calm
3 O 6:00-12:00 A
O
12:00-18:00
clear days. This space is very important in
A
~ AA providing comfort to the children playing
under the wisteria sunscreen. Remarkably,
• l ~A A this phenomenon occurred when the ground
was wetted by spraying water. Figure 8
shows an example of the vertical temperature
I -I + A distributions at the center of the wisteria
sunscreen and at the open ground on a calm
-2 ++ clear day. As shown in Fig. 9, however, no

°t I
~4
~-a

400 soo
e

ooo
significant difference between the air tem-
peratures at a height of 1.0 m under the
wisteria sunscreen and on the open ground
was found.
Horizontal whole-sky solar radiation (kcal/mZh)
Fig. 6. Relationship between (leaf temperature o f
wisteria sunscreen -- air temperature under the sun-
screen, h = 1.5 m) and whole-sky horizontal solar
radiation.
• ' ~ 5:0012:0015:0018:00
~I Under p rgola 0,4 0.5 1,1 0.4
around 400 kcal/m2h, the leaf and air tem- teoo/I Op.ngr0und 0,8 1.2__1.3 0,0

peratures were the same within + 1 °C. Above 0o Sumf=ce Condition of Soi%

that solar radiation value, the temperature 12:00 Open ground: Dry

of the leaf exceeded that of the air; however,

only by around 2 °C even at a solar radiation

:i °i/
I I , ....
of 800 kcal/m2h. oo i =:°~
. : 18:1oo

2.4. Microclimate created under the pergola

As can be seen from the thermal images roun ~ \1 I ground 0
in the daytime on a clear day as shown in
25 30
Fig. 7, the surface temperature of the sand- Temperature (~C) Temperature ('C)

box under the wisteria sunscreen was lower Under the PePgo%a At the Open Ground
than the leaf temperature (air temperature) Fig. 8. Comparison o f vertical temperature distribu-
when the surface temperature of the ground tions at the center of the pergola and at the open

0[
exposed to solar radiation exceeded 50 °C. ground.
This is clearly shown in the cross-section
profile at the lower part of the Figure. Thus,
a microclimate was observed in a space up g Clear summer days /
38 + 4:00-6:00,18:00-4:00 / /
o 6:00-12:00 / /
36 A 12:00-18:00 A/
r-~
& 34F
N
f~ 32
C
-,4 30
0
28
4~
26
0)
24
0
4J 22

22 24 26 28 30 32 34 26 38 40
Sectional distribution A i r t e m p . at o p e n g r o u n d (°C)
Fig. 7. Thermal image o f pergola measured by ther- Fig. 9. Comparison o f air temperatures under the
mal infrared camera from the north side. pergola and at the open ground.
 185

2.5. Radiation environment under the per- 50

goia
Figure 10 shows the daily variations of
46
solar radiation received by a globe surface
(diameter 7.5 cm) from the surroundings 44
At open ground
at a height of 1.0 m at the center of the 42 ( a t a h e i g h t o f 1.0m)
v
wisteria sunscreen and from the ground ex-
n.• 4(~
posed to direct solar radiation, the ambient
mean radiation temperature. For this mea- m 38
4~
surement, an o u t d o o r thermal environmental .~ 3E
< Under pergoCa
meter developed by the author was used (at a height
" 34
[7]. In the d a y t i m e on clear days, the direct &
solar radiation received from the surroundings
at the ground was 250 kcal/m2h, while ~ 3C
e~
that under the wisteria sunscreen was about
60 kcal/m2h, approximately one quarter o
2E
of the former. A difference of the mean Air temperature

radiation temperature under the pergola 24

and at the open ground was f o u n d to be 2;
CCear d a y , A u g . 4 . 1 9 8 4
6 - 8 °C in the daytime, and that under the
2[:
wisteria sunscreen was almost the same as 6 12 18 24
the air temperature. Both mean radiation Time ( h o u r )
temperatures were nearly the same around Fig. 11. Dally v a r i a t i o n s o f globe t e m p e r a t u r e u n d e r
17:00, due to the decrease of the surface the pergola and at the open ground.
temperature on the ground and the atmo-
spheric radiation. These findings were in-
verted in the nighttime. the same two points. Although the globe
For an example, the measured globe tem- temperature under the sunscreen rose, ex-
peratures indicating the effects of the solar ceeding the air temperature by about 2 °C
radiation and the thermal reradiation from due to the solar radiation from the sur-
the surroundings are shown in Fig. 11 for roundings, it was lower than the globe tem-
perature in the open place by 7 °C. Thus, a
favorable environment was provided under
the wisteria sunscreen. Since the wind veloc-
g Ambient mean radiant temperature
ity was the same at both points, the differ-
m A Under pergol,•
45
~r At open ground
(at • height of 1.0m)
ence in the globe temperatures is considered
4o
e to be caused by the radiation mentioned
,++.+**+~*****++*+***~L~
4J 35 above.
:
~' 25
3. V I N E ( D I S H C L O T H G O U R D ) S U N S C R E E N A T
~o o Clear day,Aug.7,1985 I
I 20! A SOUTH-WEST FACING VERANDA
8 9 tO II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time ( hour )
500
Solar radiation received A veranda can be considered as an attrac-
from the surrounding
400
m A Under pergol,•
tive space connecting indoors and outdoors•
a0o
+ ++ + At open ground However, t h e thermal environment of a
+++~+++++ +÷+++++ ++ + ++++ ~++ +
| +++ = ÷ + +.++ ++ ++++ veranda is frequently degraded in summer
200
by solar radiation. In addition, this has a
1oo serious effect on the indoor climate• Here,
0'
a vine screen was designed as a technique
9 l'O t'l 1'2 1'3 1'4, 1'5 1'6 1'7 18 19
Time (hour)
to control solar radiation on the veranda,
Fig. 10. Daily v a r i a t i o n s o f r a d i a t i o n e n v i r o n m e n t
and a comparative experiment was conducted
under the pergola measured by an outdoor thermal on the veranda with and without a vine
environmental meter. screen.
186

3.1. Outline of experiment

(1) Design o f dishcloth gourd sunscreen
The sunscreen was designed to be installed
on a veranda on the t op floor o f a 4-story re-
inforced concrete building in the campus o f
Kyushu University. The veranda faces south-
west, and measured 2.94 m. As shown in Fig.
12, the vine sunscreen consists o f a vertical
screen at the f r ont of the veranda and a 35 °
inclined screen, arranged so that solar radia-
tion f r o m the south-west does n o t reach the
veranda. The leaves of the dishcloth gourd
covered approximately 55% of the screen.
(2) Measured items and measuring method
Figure 13 shows the measurements of the
veranda and the collection points of data
such as incident solar radiation, air tempera-
ture, globe temperature, relative humidity,
leaf temperature and the surface t e m perat ure
o f each veranda. For measurements of the
air temp er a t ur e and surface temperature,
T th er mo coupl es 0.1 mm in diameter were
used. The leaf t em pe r at ur e was measured by
attaching the t h e r m o c o u p l e on the backside
o f the leaf with thin transparent tape. An
infrared t h e r m o m e t e r was also used to mea-
sure the surface t e m per a t ur e distributions.
(3) Measuring conditions and period
A comparative experiment was c o n d u c t e d
on the verandas with and w i t h o u t a vine
screen. These verandas are located at an
interval o f one span between them.
Th e experiment was c o n d u c t e d on clear
summer days with glass windows facing
o n to the verandas and the doors leading to
a corridor were closed. Both rooms were
air-conditioned to maintain the same r o o m
Fig. 12. Outside view of south-west facing veranda
on a 4-story building planted with dishcloth gourd
sunscreen.
t em perat ure e x c e p t when the cross ventila-
tion through the windows was measured.
3.2. Daily variation o f solar insolation on
window
Figure 14 shows the daily variation of the
ratio of the insolation on the glass window
to the insolation outside the veranda fro m
sunrise to sunset. With the screen, it showed
a constant value of 25% approximately.
Compared to that w i t hout the screen, it was
40% lower from 06:00 to 11:00 when the
sky radiation dominated. Further, it was
lowered by 6 0 - 7 0 % after 15:00 when the
direct solar radiation was insolated on the
window w i t h o u t the sunscreen. T herefo re
it was f o u n d t hat the vine sunscreen was
effective for sunshading when the solar
altitude is low.
3.3. Surface temperature distribution on vine
sunscreen and veranda sections
As shown in Fig. 15, which indicates the
daily variations of the leaf t em perat ure and

Measured spots and items

1. Air temp. inside veranda
2. Globe temp.
Wing wall Room(2940x6500) Wing wall 3. Rooma i r temp.
Vine sunscreen~3"~ --l--
Room
/
Surface temperature
3• Glass window [/ A. Backside of eaves
B. West wall
\ C. East wall
D. Floor
~ 4 O" le 2~)" E. Handrail
K. Outside of glass window
Handrail ~|1~ Leaf temp. of dishcloth gourd
\ E Planter
F. Screen inside veranda
J
~..Handrail- , G. Vertical screen
2940 ' H. Screen projected from veranda
i i
L .................................. P. Insolation outside veranda
Q. Insolation on glass window
~Planter ~Vine sunscreen
Sectional view Plan

Fig. 13. South-west facing veranda with dishcloth gourd sunscreen designed for the experiment.
 187

~ 1 0 0 / Auqust 18, 1982 Clear day ~ I ~" temperatures than without the screen, since
~ -F +~-,.! ~ l e it was mostly shaded in the daytime. This
~ |South-westhorizontal/ f )\ \~,*~'~J4~.~ indicates that the screen can lower thermal
~- I0h solar radiation/" i~ " i ~
radiation as well as the reflection from the
°-I:
-~ ~
"o 70
/I
I

3oo
,m~

,..~
floor of the veranda.
,,0- \/ it I -_-

~ 60 X VerandaWithout sunscreen ~ 3.4. Thermal environment inside veranda

o .~
•~ 40 I\/ /I - 200" : (u
The thermal environment inside the veran-
= = , .~ "~ da with and w i t h o u t a vine sunscreen was
oo 30 ~ .+.-"~'
compared for examination taking air tem-
,ov =0+
perature, globe temperature and relative
-
-= I0 /
/
Verandawith sunscreen ~
\
,~
=~
humidity.
As shown in Fig. 16, b o t h air temperatures
9 12 15 18 u~ inside the veranda were higher than the out~
Time (hour)
door air temperature. Without the screen,
Fig. 14. Daily variation o f i n c i d e n t solar r a d i a t i o n the temperature increase was remarkable
o n t o verandas w i t h a n d w i t h o u t vine sunscreen.
from 12:00 to 15:00; it was higher than
that with the screen b y 1 - 3 ° C . When a
40 difference between the globe temperature
~August 18, 1982, Clear day]
and air temperature inside the veranda was
o oA Inclined screen /
~ o •0 o projected from veranda observed, the effect of the vine sunscreen
o {o clearly appeared as can be seen from the
o~-. • ~@. Figure. With the screen, it was lower b y
~'. Sl ,,.-,.,~,
4+~ *o0. 2 - 4 °C in the daytime. As described later,
B 3~ . •
the increase of the globe temperature was
I "-, amL,. suppressed in spite o f the fact that the wind
O • velocity inside the veranda was reduced b y
25 " " the vertical screen. This can be considered
• Dishcloth gourd covering wing wall
• Inclined screen inside veranda to be caused b y a remarkable reduction in
• Vertical screen the radiation from the surroundings thanks
i I i I I I i
2 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 to the vine sunscreen.
Time (hour) After 18:00, however, b o t h air and globe
Fig. 15. Daily variation o f leaf t e m p e r a t u r e o f dish- temperature with the screen became higher
c l o t h g o u r d sunscreen. than that without the plant screen. This
may be caused b y the prevention of out-
air temperature inside the veranda, the leaf going thermal radiation from veranda sur-
temperature of the inclined screen began faces to the sky and the ventilation in the
to rise from 09:00 when the solar radiation veranda b y the vertical vine sunscreen.
started to ins•late the screen, and it reached
almost 40 °C around 14:00 when the incident
August 19, 1982, Clear day A i r temp. i n s i d e v e r a n d a
solar radiation was at the maximum. On the • With v i n e screen
4 W i t h o u t v i n e screen
other hand, the surface temperature of the ,~ / ~ 35 ~
/~,~ \ ~-~,- - Outdoorair temp.
vertical screen showed 3 0 - 3 2 ° C even in
the daytime, and was almost equal to the
air temperature inside the veranda since it
was shaded b y the inclined screen.
Without the screen, most parts of the 10 t - Air
mp.
temp.~ ', - - e - w i t h v i n e screeff 25
i ' o " (c o
veranda section were insolated, and the tem- •
_,.,~^+~
qtY~rc~'~'_-?J~(}. •
~) - - --Without v l n e screen
', ---O--Direct s o l a r r a d i a t i o n
perature of the floor reached more than " ~ ' \ ~ + V~.+ ~@- ° V ~ ~ v ~ . ~
45 °C. Even from the evening to the morning,
the west WAIIR and floor insolated in the + "T I I I a I I
"
I I I
T
l
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0
daytime kept high temperatures due to the Time (hour)
solar heat stored. With the vine sunscreen, Fig. 16. Daily variations o f air t e m p e r a t u r e a n d globe
the veranda section generally had lower t e m p e r a t u r e at b o t h verandas.
188

100 / Outdoor windvelocit)

0 12:00~18:00 /
/
mmmm(Without vine~screen
~" 90 • 21:00~9:00 / With vine screen

..J
f,,_
QJ
>g 80
u
>', ~ 70 ~_o veranda Winddirection
*l 5O
~fJ

~.,., 50
0 2O
Data taken on 3 clear
~ 40 and I cloudy days with
an interval of 3 hour
3O
3O 4 50 6 70 80
Relative humidity at veranda
With vine sunscreen (%)
Fig. 17. C o m p a r i s o n o f relative h u m i d i t y o n b o t h
verandas.
Figure 17 shows the comparison of the
relative humidity at both verandas by plotting
the data at intervals of 3 hours on 3 fine
days and 1 cloudy day. Although the humid-
ity of the veranda with the screen was pre-
dicted to be higher than that without the
screen, due to the transpiration of the leaves,
no significant difference was found from the
measurement.
3.5. Effect o f vine sunscreen on cross venti-
lation
Measurements were conducted with the
windows at the verandas and the doors
opening to the corridor. The ratio between
the wind velocity measured at the center
of the opened windows and t h a t measured
on the rooftop was calculated as a cros~
ventilation ratio. In Fig. 18 the ratio is shown
when the main rooftop wind was from a
south-west direction.
The cross-ventilation ratio w i t h o u t the
screen was 46% approximately, while with
the screen the value reduced to 17%. Thus,
the vertical screen which covered the opening
~~,~ 30 * * 2 "~
90 100 o lO ,2 ,s ,8 20 o
Time (hour)
Fig. 18. E f f e c t o f vine s u n s c r e e n o n cross ventilation.
of the veranda fully should be reconsidered
when the cross ventilation is required in
summer.
4. IVY SUNSCREEN COVERING A WEST-FACING
WALL
In the summer, the complete shading of
solar radiation incident on a west wall is very
difficult as more incident solar radiation
reaches the west wall than the south wall
due to the lower altitude of insolation. In
m a n y cases, therefore, the solar heat absorbed
by the west wall in the afternoon flows to
the room from evening to night degrading
the indoor thermal environment. Here, an
experiment was conducted on a residence
where the west concrete wall was fully
covered with ivy.
4.1. Survey o f relationships between the
growth conditions and the solar transmittance
o f an ivy sunscreen
Since the growth conditions of ivy differ
considerably with the growth period and
place, its solar control effect is considered

~ Site': AI sitd: N' I II

~points : 63_ _~points : 6 4 Number of measured
v llMeanvalue II Meanvalue I points : 56
Mean value : 12.0%
:
,o FII

0 5
: 5.3%

10 15 20
g

5 lO 15 20
8
L,L
Solar transmittance(%) Solar transmittance(%) Solar transmittance (%)
Fig. 19. F l u c t u a t i o n s o f surface d i s t r i b u t i o n in t h e m e a s u r e d values o f solar t r a n s m i t t a n c e .
 189

to be distributed over a wide range. Under A 15 i i

v Correl'ation coefficient
these circumstances, the transmittance of •-0.92
solar radiation by an ivy sunscreen was mea- c
• I
sured at scores of sites in T o k y o before
conducting the experiment. The measure- c

ments were limited to Japanese ivy which is

green in summer and withers in winter. The
solar transmittance is represented by the
ratio of the solar radiation on the wall surface lO 20 30 40
behind the ivy to that on the ivy sunscreen. Distance between the top o f
leaves and wall surface (cm)
The solar radiation was measured at about
60 points in each site and its mean value was
calculated for each site. Listed in Fig. 19 is ;orrelation coefficien,
the results of some examples. The mean I ~ r-.O.8C
solar transmittance at all the sites expect
one was 2 - 7%. The fluctuation of the sur-
face distribution of solar transmittance in g
the measured values of the same site became
larger as the mean value became larger, as
shown in Fig. 19. O
2 L
Further, the growth conditions of the ivy Covering ratio by
were measured, and the relationship with ivy leaves (xlO0%)
the solar reflectance was examined, as shown Fig. 20. Relations between ivy growth conditions and
in Fig. 20, for example. It was f o u n d t h a t solar transmittance of ivy sunscreen.
the solar transmittance of the ivy sunscreen
had a considerably high inverse correlation in a residential district of Tokyo. As shown
against the distance between the surface o f in Fig. 21, the west wall (bare reinforced
the wall and the top of the ivy sunscreen concrete wall 15 cm thick) was fully covered
and the covering ratio by ivy leaves at the with ivy. The west side was open, facing a
wall surface area. road, and was exposed to the sun until sun-
set. The west rooms of this house were used
4.2. Outline of experiment as a study and a dark room.
Considering the results of the survey men- Measurements were recorded of the tem-
tioned above, detailed measurements were perature of the ivy leaves, indoor and out.
made during the summer season at a site door surface temperatures of the exterior
where the growth of ivy was considered to wall, indoor globe temperature, ambient air
be average -- a two-story detached house temperature and ambient air flow between

Bed room Kitchen

~Living roO~~
Window type
air conditioner

~hild room
Study
Balc n; I
Dark room
West wall with ivy
Attic at top

r e s i d e n t i a l house f o r e x p e r i m e n t
Fig. 21. Floor plan and west elevation of the residential house used for experiment.
190

the ivy and exterior wall, solar radiation on Study West wall without ivy
the wall surface behind the ivy, solar radia- ~77 Aug.l, 1979 Clear day

tion on the ivy sunscreen, and other weather ~ I | ~o. .... o

I- /
elements. ~ "/ -o-
-

,/
~--IF • Cooling
4.3. Temperature distribution o f the ivy sun- ~ 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
w~ Time (hour)
screen and exterior wall
Figure 22 shows the cross-sectional tem- Study West wall with ivy
perature distribution of the exterior walls ~ Aug.ll, 1980 Clear day
with and without an ivy sunscreen on clear
days. The o u t d o o r surface temperature of
the west exterior wall without an ivy sun- u oJ--I~-
C2. "
screen exceeded the o u t d o o r temperature ~- E 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
~ Time (hour)
by nearly 10 °C at 15:00. It still maintained
this high temperature during the evening .2 Study West wall with ivy
and night when the o u t d o o r temperature ~ Aug.14,1980 Clear day
decreased. The surface temperature at the
indoor side was at a maximum at around
18:00 because of the significant influence • Cooling
of absorbed solar radiation. ~ o 3 6 9 12 is 18 z, 24
" Time (hour)
For the wall with the ivy screen, the tem-
perature of the leaves exposed to the solar Fig. 23. Daily variations of effectual radiation tem-
perature at the study facing the west wall.
radiation and the air layer temperature of
the ivy sunscreen rose. On a clear day, the
air temperature behind the ivy sunscreen 4.4. Daily variation o f heat flow through the
rose slightly due to the temperature of the west wall
exterior wall b u t did not rise remarkably. Using the measured indoor and o u t d o o r
The indoor surface temperature of the wall surface temperatures of the exterior wall,
was lower than the r o o m temperature when the heat flow through the wall was calculated
it was high (without air conditioning) in the by the response factor method. Here, a ther-
evening and through the night. This fact mal conductance of a concrete wall of 1.4
was emphasized b y the difference between kcal/mh°C, and a specific heat at constant
the globe temperature and the room tem- volume of 481 kcal/m3°C were employed.
perature of the study facing the west wall Figure 24 shows the daily variation of the
as shown in Fig. 23. heat flow at the indoor and o u t d o o r surfaces
of the exterior wall. Without an ivy sunscreen,
~(
a maximum heat of 200 kcal/m2h flowed in.
~-; ~", "® iii}~ iil s On the other hand, by providing an ivy
oa~ea ,~,
S sunscreen this was reduced to about one
'..c ..
quarter. When an ivy sunscreen was provided,
the heat flow at the indoor side frequently
"Y40 - -- showed negative values near the zero line.
1 N5 r~-15
Therefore, the influence of solar radiation
to the indoor thermal environment can be
15~'---" mostly eliminated b y providing an ivy sun-
21 0 ~ z~6
9.2 screen.
F". • .1
5. •
3{] 2 ~ 4.5. Solar control effect o f an ivy sunscreen
oeolio Figure 25 shows the heat balance at the
Flgu w times
2! o u t d o o r surface of the exterior wall covered
With ivy Aug. 12, 1980
Without ivy July 31, 1979
Clear day Clear day
with ivy. Here, the convection heat flux was
obtained b y subtracting the absorbed solar
Fig . 2 2. C r o s s - s e c t i o n a l t e m p e r a t u r e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f
the exterior walls, with and without an ivy sun- radiation and the longwave radiation heat
screen. flux between the leaves and wall surface
 i91

20 !

ZOO white : West wall of study

black : West wall of dark room
RO .irt .- -
I /.] t .- . . . . . . ~ "G []
,;oo,o
~tldO0 la temP. 'He*'tf10wat l

I
l

I
:
._,t
/
V

I ,./
~
. 1 ,.'a, fro.. atJ
l~
outdoor
I
indoor
1
surface

surface ~
/ /
'
/
|

i
/
/ J
, ,~
I".
I l
l

-
~ ~
-~,
-
!] ~• ,
~
!o,,,
-d 0

~, ~ o , , • .
9

r..E • • . W., 10 ' o° ii •

"o • A

I.~ t O
~-~ a Aug.11 Clear day
Aug. I . 1979 Clear dayK I I I ug.2 C ear ay " Aug.12 Clear day
4 I ll 16 l n 4 II I 20 kq o Aug.13 Clear day
Tine (hour) Aug.14 Clear d a y

~o
lu o, ,'2 ,; ,,
i ! Isti d' ".S<''l''''<h~'v' Time (hour)
......... . Room a i r tomp, ~ ...L~........ ...... --.- ~
West wall with ivy
Fig.~ 27. Equivalent shading coefficient of the ivy
~( Heat flo~ a t I0
sunscreen.
lk /indoor surface /
o ! l/ I .lL£ I I 0 ~

~..~ ~~u~,...
_.
......]d . ~ I l
" " - - t ,,gso c,..~ "I I
F d%~" "
A.9.. c , . ~ (measured values or calculated f r o m the mea-
~ ri~ (hour) sured values) f r o m the t ot al heat flow into
Fig. 24. Daily variations of heat flow at the indoor the wall surface. T he convection heat trans-
and outdoor surfaces of the west wall. fer coefficient between the o u t d o o r air and
o u t d o o r surface o f the wall was small, approx-
B01 West wall with ivy imately 4 kcal/m2h°C, and had very little
~" I Aug.12, 1980 Clear day /
ota1 daily fluctuation as shown in Fig. 26. That

I~
ii jSOlar absOrptance
40J-c0ncrete surface : Of75% / / is t o say, a volume o f still air was f o r m e d
iSolar transmittance of / ong wave
ivy sunscreen : 5!.3~ // radiation within the ivy sunscreen, which has an un-
Convection favorable effect on the Convective cooling.
However, the a m o u n t was small because at
night t he o u t d o o r surface t e m p e r a t u r e o f
the ext eri or wall with an ivy screen was
o ~ Absorbed ~ ~
•~" ~.'~v~-"/ solar radiation lower t han t h a t w i t hout an ivy sunscreen.
~ - 2 0 - -- " ~ ' , T o t a l T h e equivalent shading coefficient o f th e
,~--
&l~:m
1 18 24 ivy sunscreen is given in Fig. 27. This was
=~ Time (hour) c o m p u t e d as the ratio bet w een the insolation
Fig. 25. I-Ie~t b a l ~ e e at the outside surface o f the ex- o f the west wall and the heat flow f r o m the
terior w a l l c o v e r e d w i t h i v y o n a c l e a r s u m m e r d a y . o u t d o o r surface o f the west wall. When the

1 I I I i i I | i I
white : West wall of study u Aug.11 Clear day J ~ m Aug.11 Clear day
black : West wall of dark room a Aug.12 Clear day [ ~ • Aug.12 Clear day
o Aug.13 Clear day m ~ • Aug.13 Clear day
v Aug.14 Clear day 1 ~ 10 • Aug.14 Clear day
oJ u
West wall of dark room

VV •
i • I • • •~0 / ¢u U

s ~ ' . - " ~'-. ~, o~. "8 -~ ~a] 8>~

v5

:~ O i ~ ~ v a v • Ooo e'-
v o~O VI ~
~
~ U

, J i I t i =0020
8 3 B 9 12 15 18 21 24 ~ o O 4 8
Time (hour) Time (hour)
West wall with ivy West wall with ivy
(Wall surface - A i r l a y e r ) (Wall surface - Outdoor a i r )
Fig. 26. Convection heat transfer coefficient at the outside surface of the west wall with ivy.
192

transmittance of the ivy sunscreen for the zuka hort with a dense canopy. They were
solar radiation was approximately 5%, the planted in individual plant pots and were
equivalent shading coefficient was approx- movable. The experimental building was
imately 12%. constructed at an open place. The building
has one room with a floor space of 20 m,
and the room was not air-conditioned. The
5. SOLAR SHADING EFFECT BY ROW OF EVER- west wall is of concrete, 12 cm thick, 2.3 m
GREENS PLACED NEXT TO WEST WALL high and 5.4 m wide. A few patterns of the
planting row are shown in Fig. 29, and the
In the former Section, the author described air space between the west wall and the
the solar shading effect of covering a west planting row is shown in Fig. 30. Needless
wall with an ivy sunscreen. In this case, to say, the shadows of the planted row on
however, the author pointed out unfavorable the west wall surface differ depending on
effects because air stagnates in the air layer the planting patterns. However, over 0.7
between the ivy and the wall increasing the of the wall is shaded even with the planting
temperature of the air layer, and heat dis- pattern (L65, D60).
charge from the wall is suppressed by the ivy
sunscreen in the nighttime. To improve this
situation, a technique to plant evergreens
with a dense crown in a row along the wall
was employed and the resultant solar shading
effect of the evergreen row was examined.

5.1. Outline of experiment

An outline of the experiment is illustrated
in Fig. 28. For the west wall of a one-story
experimental building, an outdoor experi-
ment using mock-ups was conducted by
applying the following planting patterns. As Without Pcanttng Row

shown in Table 1, the five planting patterns

have different planting intervals (L cm) and
distances between the planting row and the
wall (D cm) including a p a t t e r n without
planting a row. The trees planted were Kai-

Evergreen w i t h dense canopy

Canopy size

o "N i S
Height : about 2m ~.~

~ f0ieoet...... t,,oo\
• Surface tamp Sotar mete / L"
O A i r tamp ~]1 J ' ~'<~
Ii: 'I o
P~anting Pattern (L65,D60)

(5.4m~3.6m)

Feat Pool oaf

/1\ f T-
f~ower pot I a/~
2 s t o r i e s buitding
Distance between p t ~ t i n g ( D ( c m ) )
5400
I ,o~,5.,..g.6m) I
U s:o.,.o.,..0 H 0.,_ 0., and
U ~ ~-Anemometer planting row ....
est wal.!, wal.1. (D(cm))

" ~-~Eve r g een

(L(cm))
P~anting Pattern (L45,D20)
Fig. 28. Outline o f experiment for row of evergreens
placed n e x t to the west wall. Fig. 29. West view o f planting row.
 193

TABLE 1
Mean solar trammittance for each planting pattern of a planting row

Planting pattern Equivalent solar transmittance (%)

6:00 - 11:00 11:00 - 13:00 13:00 - 18:00

(L 45, D 20) 6.0 9.5 3.3

(L 65, D 20) 13.6 13.8 7.5
(L 45, D 60) 34.8 26.5 6.4
(L 65, D 60) 35.8 27.0 8.1

4 I
P%anttng Pattern (L65,D60)
t620 17:10
15:10 . • /~___~_.
. . . . . . . .

i ,; o "ot
1 12:00

,/
,top
I I I I I I I I
10 20 40 ~ 60 70 80 90 100
E q u i v a % e n t so%at t r a n s m i t t a n c e on t h e w e s t w a % l (%)

15:15 1II11:,....~.~ ......

P%anting Panttern (L45,D60)

Fig. 30. View of air space between planting row and

west wall. 1.o- /

\ --16.00
5.2. Equivalent solar transmittance for P%anting Pattern (L45,D20)
the planting row I i

The ratio of the solar radiation on the E q u i v a % e n t so%at t r a n s m i t t a n c e on t h e w e s t we%% (%)

west wall to the vertical solar radiation at
the front of the planting row was obtained,
and the ratio was defined as an equivalent
solar transmittance. Figure 31 shows the
vertical distribution on the west wall for
t w o examples having different patterns. The
vertical distribution differed significantly
depending on the t y p e o f the planting pattern
until around 10:30 when the solar radiation
was n o t incident on the west wall. With the
planting pattern of (L 65, D 60), solar radia-
tion entered through a space between the
planting row and the west wall around noon,
which increased the solar radiation received
b y the west wall. After 13:00 when it m a y
be required to completely intercept sunlight
from the western sector, vertical distribution
became almost constant.
Furthermore, based on the measured result
of the distribution of the equivalent solar
Fig. 31. Vertical distributions of equivalent solar
transmittance of planting row.
transmittance on the west wall surface, the
mean transmittance was obtained. As shown
in Table 1, over 95% o f the solar radiation
from the west can be intercepted with the
planting pattern o f (L 45, D 20). When the
interval of the trees is wide, the ratio of
solar radiation on the west wall increases
due to the direct solar radiation through the
gaps between the trees. However, as the part
exposed to the direct solar radiation changed
along with t h e movement of the sun, the
range o f surface temperature distribution
on the west wall was n o t so large. Figure 32
shows the relation between the distribution
o f the solar radiation incident on the west
wall and the surface temperature distribution
194

40
Clear day,15:OO,Sep.3,1982
Surface temperature of west watt
50O
35
L,
,=
3 30 4O0
t-
.,-g
O
300
:G
m L
20 200 ~.
o
incident n ~o ~e,st watt
15 0
Horizontal d i s t r i b u t i o n
Planting Pattern (L65,D60) Fig. 33. Thermal image o f a Kaizuka hort receiving
solar radiation f r o m the upper left direction.

• 35 I
~Plant surface
5 0
faced to 0west wall
'~
v°
8 Planting Pattern (L65,D60) /
Clear day,Aug.20-21,198% O Oo ~

3o 400 .o
c
&&& •
2 300
~3
~)
25 incidenttowest wal ~ U / I
200 ~
.~ o
25

Horizontaldistribution
----
0
O
/ V e l o cW
• 20:,,~0"-, 6:00
ndi t y / -
PlantingPattern(L45,D20) • 18:(X~20:00 0.3~I .7m/=
0 12:30~-17:00 1.7m/=
Fig. 32. Relationship between solar radiation incident
on the west wall and surface temperature distribution %
on the west wall. Outdoor air temperature (°C)

in the horizontal direction, which indicates 8 Planting Pattern (L65,D20) /

that the surface temperature of the part C~esr day,Aug.30-31,1982 O /
exposed to the solar radiation was higher
than that of other parts by about 3 °C. O.4J

L~
5.3. Temperature distribution around plant-
ing row
The thermal image of Kaizuka hort re- O
.... " ...
ceiving the solar radiation from the upper
left direction is shown in Fig. 33. The leaf 3¢D
~¢=
temperature at the side receiving solar radia- j • aWlnd Vei l c i t y
tion increased; however, that at the shaded
n e lb-/ • 18.'0G~6=00 0.1--.0.3m/=
side remained almost the same as the air / 0 12.'00~-17:~ I .8-,,1.gm/s
L~
temperature. From this fact, it can be under- I I i
20 25 30
stood t h a t the thermal reradiation received Outdoor ai r temperature (°C)
by the west wall with planting row was lower Fig. 34. Relationship between air temperature in air
than that received from the heated ground space between planting row and west wall and out-
without the planting row. As shown in Fig. door air temperature.
34, when the distance between the west
wall and the planting row was narrow, the noticeable that the temperature of the air
air tended to stagnate in the air space, and space remained slightly lower than the out~
the air temperature became higher than the door air temperature in the morning due
o u t d o o r air temperature by several degrees to the cool air of the nighttime remaining
centigrade in the period after noon. It is in the space. Experimental results on the
 195

air flow distribution in the air space and the Without the planting row, the heat flow
attenuation rate of the air velocity will be at the indoor side o f the west wall reached
reported later. the maximum value of 100 kcal/m2h around
16:00 due to the solar radiation from the
5.4. Daily variations for heat flow through south-west. It can be reduced to below 50
the west wall kcal/m2h b y means of the planted row.
Using measured results o f the indoor/ Especially with the planting pattern of (L 45,
o u t d o o r surface temperature o f the exterior D 20), almost no influence was induced b y
wall, the heat flow of the west wall was the afternoon solar radiation. In the morning,
calculated b y the response factor method. the narrower distance between the wall and
Figure 35 shows the calculated results of the planting row provided the larger heat
each planting pattern o n c l e a r days. Al- discharge from indoors to outdoors. There-
though the a m o u n t of the heat flow cannot fore, a passive cooling effect may be ex-
be compared directly due to the different pected. It was clarified that the solar shading
weather conditions, the effect of the planting effect was larger when the interval between
row may be examined qualitatively. the plants and the wall was narrower. On the
other hand, however, the aspects of the
maintenance and durability of buildings
should be considered. In addition, if there
are windows on the west wall, t h e y will
effectively receive diffuse sky radiation for
daylight utilization, while the solar radiation
from the west can be intercepted b y arranging
a proper distance between the planted row
o'.
and the wall.
L~

Lo
o 6. ROOFTOP TURF LAYER
o"13
oC
One of the typical examples of such plant
culture around a building is turf planted on
the r o o f o f a building. An o u t d o o r exposure
experiment was performed over one year
~ . using different layers on the r o o f in order to
obtain the basic data for use in the design
of a thermal environment.

6.1. Outline of outdoor exposure experiment

8 12 t6 20 0 4
(1) Experimental rooftop planting layer
Time (hour,) The following three mock-ups for planting
were constructed.
® 100 .". Planting
i
Pattern
i (a) Turf-planting layer (L1): model used
Without plating
uw
row,Aug.lO a most prevalent m e t h o d and was formed
~(L45,D20) 0Aug.4
.... (L65,D20) ,Aug.31 b y layering a loam-perlite mixture and gravel
=-o 50
. . . . . ( L 4 5 , D60) , ~ g . 7 (34 cm thick) on a flat r o o f and planting
o .... (L65,D60) ,Aug.19
turf (Zoysia wild(Kohrai.shiba)) on top.
C~ear days
¢.o
on /!//.. (b) Turf-planting layer (L2): for r o o f t o p
oc
.o..~
c o C~ "~
/ / 1 ,,
h'.:.,"
planting, a too-heavy soil layer is detrimental
to the structure o f the building. This model
was constructed b y layering a loam-perlite
mixture and a perlite with relatively large
~ -5o particle size b u t the soil layer was made
:c ~ 8 12 16 20 0
Tim (hour) thinner to reduce the weight.
Fig. 35. Daily variations of heat flow at the indoor (c) Bare soil layer (S): this model is pro-
and outdoor surfaces of the west wall. vided b y using the same soil layers as that o f
196

1000// 6 layer: measured twice a day at 10:00 and

I ,/
........... ,,,.,,.,~.,,.,., ........m . . ~ = : ~ >
Tc-$Z: (~1~ ~.." "- " ~" ~ :~.: , I~ :"": : F " : " ; : : :. , ; , :~v ' . ~ I B : ~
oOOocj
Roof top slab o f the 4-story building
! Loam-perlite mixture (Volume ratio 1:1)
2 Perlite with r e l a t i v e l y large particle size
3 Asbestos-slate board (16mm thick, 9 boards)
4 Air layer
5 Mortar surface
6 Temperature measurement with thermocouples
7 Measurement of water run-off from the layer surface
8 Measurement of drainage from the layer bottom
Fig. 36. Sectional view of tuff-pianting layer (L2)
and measured items.
turf-planting layer L1 on which, however,
no turf is planted. Figure 36 shows a sec-
tional view of turf-planting layer L2. The
surrounding and b o t t o m of the planting
layer were subjected to thermal insulation
so that the soil layer can be assumed to
contain heat transmission only in the vertical
direction. To determine the water budget,
the amount of rain water run-off from the
surface layer and the amount of drainage
from the b o t t o m layer were measured.
(2) Measurements and methods
(a) Turf/soil surface temperature, tem-
perature inside gravel-soil layer and other
surface temperatures.
(b) Spectral reflectance on the surface
of turf, soil and other materials. A portable
spectrophotometer was used for the com-
parative measurement.
(c) Amounts of rainfall, rainwater run-off
from surface layer, and drainage from b o t t o m
I 17:00.
7
(d) Water content of soil layer.
o OOoO " u O ~
(e) Weather elements such as o u t d o o r air
temperature, relative humidity, wind direc-
tion/wind speed, and solar radiation.
(f) An o u t d o o r exposure experiment was
performed by setting up the test layers on
the r o o f of a four-story building shown in
Fig. 37.
6.2. Spectral reflectance and solar radiation
reflectance
The reflectance for the solar radiation was
calculated from the results of spectral reflec-
tance measurements with the spectral dis-
tribution of the incident solar radiant energy
taken into account. Figure 38 shows the
annual variations in solar radiation reflectance
for various materials determined in the same
manner as above. The solar radiation reflec-
tance for tuff shows an almost constant value
of 22 - 26% throughout the year.
6.3. Effects of weather elements and material
properties on surface temperature
The surface temperature distribution great-
ly varies according to the weather conditions
and the physical properties of materials.
The status of the turf was divided into the
green and dead leaves. These conditions were
used to determine the relationship between
the surface-air temperature difference and
the horizontal whole-sky solar radiation
which, of all weather elements, affects the
surface temperature most.
As can be seen from an example in Fig. 39,
an extremely high correlation is found be-
tween the above t w o factors. At a solar
radiation of 600 kcal/m2h, the turf's surface
temperature was a b o u t 10°(3 higher than

40
o Turf •A • • ~ •
A Bare soil • &&
30 x Mortar •h
~8
~'~ 20
~x xx x ~x x

o Artificial turf A • * • % *~% *

~ 1o Artificial turf B ~, * , *~'~ ~

, , i , i i

11 12 I 2 3 4 S i 7 8
1981 1982
Time (month)
Turf-planting layer (LI), Turf-planting layer (L2), Bare soil layer (S) Fig. 38. Annual variation in solar radiation reflec-
Fig. 37. Outline of outdoor exposure experiment. tance for turf, soil, and other materials.
 197

2O
TABLE 2
Green-leaves t u r f
(July to August) Multi-regression functions of the temperature differ-
ence between the turf or soil surface and ambient
t~ ~o air using some weather elements as variables

Turf: green leaves, July to August; r 2 = 0.87 a = 1.1

Y = 0.016X1 -- 0.297X2-- 0.888X3 + 6.28
o = x ~ xx~
I~x~ x T u r f : d e a d l e a v e s , D e c e m b e r t o M a r c h ; r 2 ffi 0 . 8 5
~ N o=1.9
o Forenoon
x Afternoon
Y = 0.024X1" 0.238X2 -- 0.189X3-- 2.26
~~ -10 i i i Bare soil: dry, morning; r 2 ffi 0.91 o = 1.6
a 200 400 600 800
Y = 0 . 0 2 1 X 1 + 0 . 1 3 2 X ~ - - 0.168X3 -- 5.19
Horizontal solar radiation (kcal/mZh)
Bare soil: dry, afternoon; r 2 = 0.89 o = 1.4
Y = 0.018X1 ÷ 0 . 1 8 4 X 2 - 0 . 0 8 9 X 3 - 2.68
2O Bare soil: w e t ; r 2=0.80 o = 1 . 5
oo ~ a d - l e a v e s turf
(December t o Hatch) x~ Y = 0.013X1 + 0.047X2 -- 0.027X3-- 3.48
Y = (surface temperature - - air temperature)
(difference) (°C)
Xz = total solar radiation on horizontal surface
x x x xx
(kcal/m2h)
X 2 = air temperature (°C)
° X3 = wind speed ( m / s )
r = multi-correlation coefficient
o Forenoon o = standard error (°C)
x Afternoon
~ -I0 | J i
o
200 400 600 800
a f f e c t s t h e t u f f s u r f a c e - a i r t e m p e r a t u r e dif-
Horizontal s o l a r r a d i a t i o n (kcal/m2h)
ference. T o e l i m i n a t e t h e e f f e c t s o f t h e solar
Fig. 39. Relationship between the difference of the r a d i a t i o n , in this Figure t h e d a t a was p l o t t e d
turf surface temperature and the air temperature
and the horizontal solar radiation. f r o m t h e s a m p l e s t a k e n o n l y at a b o u t n o o n
w h e n t h e solar r a d i a t i o n w a s 7 0 0 - 7 5 0
k c a l / m 2 h . A n e g a t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n was ob-
o
u 18 viously found between the surface-air tem-
perature difference and the wind speed
c 17
w h i c h increased f r o m 1.5 m / s t o 5 m / s ,
Q,jLm,. and the surface temperature decreased by
3.5 °C.
For each physical condition of the turf
o
a n d soil surfaces, t h e m u l t i - r e g r e s s i o n anal-
ysis o f t h e s u r f a c e - a i r t e m p e r a t u r e d i f f e r e n c e
uv~ 13
eo was p e r f o r m e d using w e a t h e r e l e m e n t s as
~L Green-leaves t u r f
='- 12 variables. T a b l e 2 s h o w s an e x a m p l e o f t h e
t~ 0 ; 31; analysis results. Using t h e t h r e e m e t e o r o l o g -
Wind speed (m/sec)
The sampling for measurement was made on)y ical e l e m e n t s o f t h e t o t a l solar r a d i a t i o n ,
at about noon when the solar radiation was
700 tO 750 kca|/mZh (Hay 21,23,Z4,and25,and air t e m p e r a t u r e a n d w i n d s p e e d as variables,
June 4)
t h e multi-regression f u n c t i o n c o u l d b e a p p l i e d
Fig. 40. Relationship between the difference of the
t o e s t i m a t e t h e t u f f o r b a r e soil surface--air
turf surface temperature and the air temperature
and wind speed. temperature difference within the standard
e r r o r r a n g e o f I - 2 °C.

t h e air t e m p e r a t u r e w h e n t h e t u r f was c o m - 6.4. Temperature distribution inside soil

p o s e d o f d e a d leaves, while t h e s u r f a c e t e m -
p e r a t u r e was a b o u t 6 °C higher f o r t h e t u r f
c o m p o s e d o f g r e e n leaves.
Figure 40 also s h o w s t h e results o f t h e
e x p e r i m e n t s t o see h o w t h e wind s p e e d
layer and effect on solar insolation
F o r t u f f - p l a n t i n g layers L1 a n d L2 a n d
t h e b a r e soil l a y e r S, t h e t e m p e r a t u r e dis-
t r i b u t i o n a t e a c h d e p t h w i t h i n t h e soil l a y e r
was m e a s u r e d t o d e t e r m i n e dally v a r i a t i o n
198

Daily variation range ('C) ranges, and t h e vertical distributions o f these

O0 5 • I0 15 ranges are p l o t t e d in Fig. 41. T h e vertical
1.5 ~ ]' /7 .-" distribution o f daily t e m p e r a t u r e - v a r i a t i o n
ranges varied a c c o r d i n g t o the w e a t h e r con-
-;[ ':" " ""
ditions t h a t d i f f e r e d with seasons, the physi-
cal p r o p e r t i e s o f surface materials, and the

- "f/Y ///i
I/_// --.
..U_It ~ ' ~
""
(oct 3) O.ea2.,!2ves
~,ucc ~.,/ mixture
Green leaves
w a t e r c o n t e n t o f soil. T h e daily-variation
ranges f o r the turf-planting layer were small-
er t h a n those f o r the bare soil layer. Partic-
ularly f o r turf-planting layer L1, the ranges
'~F ~ - - ~Dead'-ieaves
JlIU . . . . . . . . . (Mar 10)J a r o u n d r o o t s s h o w e d a s u d d e n drop. As a
lill --.--(May 4)i result, the daily t e m p e r a t u r e - v a r i a t i o n range
i(|I ....... (Jun 27)I
f o r t h e c o n c r e t e slab surface u n d e r the
iu ..........(Aug 3z)l gravel-soil layer was within 1 °C.
34 ~ ......... (Sep 5)J F o r annual variations, the daily t e m p e r -
ature-variation ranges for the turf-planting
Turf-planting layer (LI) layers were greater in w i n t e r t h a n in s u m m e r ,
while t h e bare soil layer obviously s h o w e d
Daily variation range (°C) greater daily-variation ranges in s u m m e r .
5 10 15 20 T h e c o m p a r i s o n b e t w e e n planting layers
L1 and L2 revealed t h a t the daily tempera-
ture-variation ranges near t h e surface o f
t h e layer c o n t a i n i n g perlite were slightly
larger t h a n those f o r L1, b u t t h a t o f t h e
A 15-cm-deep slab surface s h o w e d a r e d u c t i o n
o f the daily ranges d o w n t o 1 °C o r less. It
~':~'~//>~Z
v

.~16 Status of soil is t h u s c o n s i d e r e d t h a t t h e r e is little differ-

I surface ence b e t w e e n the test layers in insolation
--.-- Oct 15]
i ....... Nov 14 Wet
effects f o r the solar radiation.
.... •.... Dec 25
............. Mar 26
6.5. Evaporation from planting-layer surface
- . - o - . - Jun 2 Dry and water budget
..... o..... Aug
T h e surface w a t e r b u d g e t is i m p o r t a n t in
31 t h e e x a m i n a t i o n o f the solar r a d i a t i o n reflec-
Bare soil layer (S)
tance, surface t e m p e r a t u r e distribution, and
Fig. 41. Vertical distribution of daily temperature- w a t e r reservation b y t h e planting layer.
variation ranges within soil layer for turf-planting Variation in t h e daily a m o u n t o f e v a p o r a t i o n
layer L1 and bare soil layer S.
(including t h e a m o u n t o f transpiration) is

TABLE 3
Ratios of evaporation, water run-off from layer surface, and drainage from layer bottom to rainfall

Ratio -- to rainfall Test layer

Bare soil Planting layer (L1) Planting layer (L2)
layer (S) Green leaves Dead leaves Aug. - Oct.
June - Oct. Nov. - May

Ratio of evaporation 0.54 0.65 0.58 0.60

Ratio of water run-off 0.34 0.05 0.06 0.05
from layer surface Ws
Ratio of drainage from 0.12 0.30 0.36 0.35
layer bottom Wb
Ws + Wb 0.46 0.35 0.42 0.40

a b o u t 50 l/m 2 per day in summer and a b o u t
20 1/m 2 per d a y in winter. The value for the
planting layer was slightly greater than that
for the bare soil. The rates o f evaporation,
water run-off from the surface layer, and
drainage from the b o t t o m layer were deter-
mined with respect to the amount of rain-
fall, and are shown in Table 3.
7. SUMMARY
Experiments were conducted on the
climatological uses of plants and the remark-
able effects on solar control were clarified.
The following are the major results obtained
from this investigation.
(1) Taking a pergola composed of a hori-
zontal plant screen, which effectively pro-
vides a wider shaded area than a single
standing tree does, the thermal environment
created in a pergola was clarified.
(2) A vine (dishcloth gourd) sunscreen
was designed as a technique to control solar
radiation on the veranda, and a comparative
experiment was c o n d u c t e d on it with and
without a vine sunscreen. The effects on
improving the thermal environment inside
the veranda were clarified.
(3) The effects of the ivy sunscreen on
the thermal environment and cooling load
were given. The following important ther-
mal characteristics were obtained from the
equations of heat balance at the exterior
wall:
(a) the equivalent shading coefficient for
the ivy sunscreen;
(b) the convection heat transfer coefficient
for the o u t d o o r surface of an exterior wall
covered with ivy.
(4) A technique to plant evergreens with
a dense canopy in a row next to the west
wall was employed and the resultant solar
shading effect of the evergreen row was
investigated b y an o u t d o o r experiment using
mock-ups.
(5) The experiment was conducted for
more than one year using mock-ups of t w o
turf-planting layers and a bare soil layer on
the roof of a building. The following results
on the thermal characteristics were ob-
tained:
(a) annual variations in solar radiation
reflectance;
199
(b) relationship between surface tempera-
ture and weather elements;
(c) temperature distribution within the
soil layer;
(d) rainfall water budget.
Since plants cannot be handled as artificial
materials which have uniform quality, sys-
tematic experiments should be conducted
repeatedly to accumulate the data. On the
other hand, actual design methods to obtain
thermal effects by employing plants to
enhance buildings need to be proposed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express m y thanks to Professor
Yoshimi Urano, Professor Kenichi Kimura
and Professor Masahiro Chatani for their
suggestions in the course of the work.
This study was supported in part b y a
grant for Energy Research b y the Ministry
of Education, Science and Culture of Japan
in fiscal years 1 9 8 1 - 1982, and b y a grant
from S h i n j u t a k u - F u k y u k a i ( M o d e m Housing
Research and Promotion Fund) in 1986.
REFERENCES
1 G.O. Robinette, Plant, People and Environmental
Quality, U.S. Department of the Interior, Nation-
al Park Service, Washington, DC, 1972.
2 A. Hoyano, Passive cooling, J. Japan Solar Energy
Soc., 9 (5) (1983) 7 - 13.
3 A. Hoyano and T. Yamashita, Experimental
study on solar control effects of vine sunscreen
at the veranda, Trans. Environ. Eng. in Architec-
tura (Architectural Institute of Japan) (5)(Nov.)
(1983) 141 - 146 (in Japanese).
4 A. Hoyano and T. Yamashita, Solar control by
vine sunscreens and these effects on building
thermal environment, Trans. Environ. Eng. in
Architecture (Architectural Institute of Japan)
(6) (Nov.) (1984) 140 - 145 (in Japanese).
5 A. Hoyano et al., Experimental study on solar
control by an ivy-covered wall, J. Architecture,
Planning and Environ. Eng. (Architectural Insti-
tute of Japan), No. 351, (May) (1985) 1 1 - 19
(in Japanese).
6 A. Hoyano and K. Hagiwara, Effects of rooftop
planting layers upon thermal environment of the
building, Trans. Environ. Eng in Architecture
(Architectural Institute of Japan), (5) (Nov.)
(1983) 133 - 140 (in Japanese).
7 A. Hoyano and H. Jiang, A measuring instrument
for outdoor thermal environment, Parts 1 and 2,
Proc. Annual Meeting o f Architectural Institute
of Japan, August 1986, pp. 933 - 936 (in Japa-
nese).