These vegetated surfaces don’t just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building’s energy efficiency.What’s more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what’s called a “street canyon,” or the corridor between tall buildings.
For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.
The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Reblogging for Ms Jess & Duchess. I’m counting on you pair to make all our buildings look like this.
(via darziel)
Magic in the forest by ~deiiff88
(Source: thephilosophiles, via amethyst-wings)
(argh, I could have sworn I found a way to add/change click-through link by, like, clicking on the upper right corner of the photo, sort of like getting to an individual post page from the dash. doesn’t seem to be there now. doesn’t work in Chrome either. the gear only includes content source, not clickthrough link. feh.)
(via theearthwearsgreen)
the lushest time of year by manyfires on Flickr.
(via mothensidhe)
100927合歡山 943 by Guu老古 on Flickr.
(Source: paganroots, via the-hanging-garden)
(via faeriesandravens)
omg. do want.
(via the-hanging-garden)
(Source: thedrunkenorseman, via ninquelen)
