This study aims to provide foundational data on the energy-saving effects ofrooftop greening by analyzing its efficiency and limitations as a method for improvingthe energy performance of aged detached houses in Busan, South Korea. The studyarea was s...
This study aims to provide foundational data on the energy-saving effects ofrooftop greening by analyzing its efficiency and limitations as a method for improvingthe energy performance of aged detached houses in Busan, South Korea. The studyarea was selected as a detached housing district along Mangyang-ro in Dong-gu,Busan Metropolitan City. Based on a preliminary survey of building characteristics—including year of use, building footprint, structural type, and thermal transmittancestandards by revision year—16 households were initially selected. Among them, twohouses with pitched roofs were excluded, and a total of 14 flat-roof houses withsimilar topographical conditions and spatial layouts were finalized as the studytargets. Energy consumption changes before and after rooftop greening were analyzedusing DesignBuilder.
The surveyed buildings were detached houses with service lives ranging from 10 toover 60 years, floor areas from 45m² to 201.57m², and heights varying from one tothree stories. This diversity allowed comparisons between buildings with similarconditions as well as those differing in one or more characteristics, enabling analysisfrom multiple perspectives. Thermal transmittance values for each building wereapplied according to the building’s approval year, using the corresponding standardsin 10-year intervals. For simulation consistency, the window-to-wall ratio wasuniformly set at 30% of the exterior wall area for all buildings.
The results indicate that the energy efficiency improvement from rooftop greeningwas most pronounced in cooling energy demand for detached houses older than 50years, with reductions exceeding 25%. In contrast, detached houses over 10 years oldwith two stories showed the lowest efficiency gains, with reductions of 1.78% incooling energy and 1.82% in heating energy. For two-story houses older than 30years—which constituted the largest proportion of the sample—cooling energy wasreduced by approximately 2%, while heating energy savings reached around 6%.
These results were achieved solely through the application of rooftop greening,without any additional remodeling measures.
Even under similar conditions, variations in energy-saving performance wereobserved among buildings. This difference was attributed to increased energy lossesthrough windows associated with a greater number of floors. Additionally, therelatively small energy changes observed in buildings over 10 years old were due tothe application of already strengthened thermal transmittance standards, whichlimited the relative impact of rooftop greening. These findings confirm thatgeographical characteristics, building age, and building height are critical factorsinfluencing the energy efficiency of rooftop greening.
This study verifies that rooftop greening is an effective green remodeling strategyfor reducing energy consumption in aged detached houses. Considering thecharacteristics of sloped and aging residential areas—such as narrow access roads,insufficient building setbacks, and structural constraints—where conventionalremodeling methods are often difficult to implement, rooftop greening emerges as ahighly feasible and efficient alternative.
Furthermore, beyond energy savings, rooftop greening provides multipleenvironmental benefits, including improvements in urban aesthetics and microclimate,mitigation of stormwater runoff, and restoration of urban ecosystems. It alsocontributes to the expansion of leisure and resting spaces for residents in agingresidential communities. In light of these multifaceted benefits, rooftop greeningshould be actively incorporated into future policy frameworks. Additionally, given thehigh proportion of elderly residents in such areas, administrative and technicalsupport measures to reduce maintenance burdens should be considered in parallel.