Impacts of Living walls and roofs on Air quality particularly relating to Airport Emission

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my thanks to my advisor, for his suggestions, comments, patience and understanding. Very special thanks to my parents, my father, my mother, my brother and my sister who were continuously supporting me throughout my life and leaving me free in all my decisions. I would also like to thank my colleagues for his technical support whenever I needed. I would like to thank to Department, all the university managers, teachers and students with whom I have worked.

I certify that the work presented in the dissertation is my own unless referenced

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DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

Impervious surfaces are dominant features of the urban landscape and include roads, parking lots, building walls and rooftops. These surfaces absorb solar radiation and have an infiltration capacity close to zero, in contrast to the original vegetated habitat, thereby intensifying several urban environmental issues such as increasing volume and decreasing quality of storm water runoff, loss of floral and faunal diversity, and the urban heat island effect. One solution to mitigate the impacts of conventional building rooftops in cities is to convert them into green roofs. Green roofing involves adding vegetation and growing medium to the roof surface of buildings over a series of root barrier and waterproofing membranes. Green roofs are categorized into two types: intensive and extensive. Intensive roofs have deep growing media and often a more diverse plant community, but structural load and costs are often high. Extensive green roofs are characterized by shallow growing medium, usually much less than 15cm, and are lightweight. Plants on extensive green roofs must also be drought tolerant and capable of surviving difficult growing conditions because the shallow substrate and full exposure to the environment permits periodic drought and rapid fluctuations in soil moisture. Extensive green roofs are less expensive and the focus of most research studies because quantifying their benefits improves the likelihood of widespread retrofitting of existing buildings in cities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1Aims and Objectives2

1.1.1Aims:2

1.1.2Objectives:3

1.2Background of living walls and roofs4

1.3Potential ability to reduce pollution9

1.4Impact on air quality9

CHAPTER 2:RESEARCH AREA METHODOLOGY11

2.1Identify 'good' air quality parameters:12

2.2Identify specific Air Quality Impacts around Heathrow:12

2.3Identify the potential and actual problems of Living Walls and Roofs within the Heathrow area:12

2.4Good air quality parameters13

2.5Air quality around Heathrow13

CHAPTER 3: IMPLEMENTATION OF LIVING WALLS AND ROOFS AROUND HEATHROW AREA14

3.1Impact on air quality specifically14

3.2Positive and negative effects15

3.2.1Advantages & Benefits15

3.2.2Disadvantages, Problem Areas, and Costs18

3.3Actual problems20

3.4Residual pros and cons of Living walls and roofs in Heathrow area20

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION21

4.1Useful Plant species21

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION23

REFERENCES25

APPENDIX32

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Environment in urban areas is getting worse due to pollution. Plants have natural tendency to absorb organic and inorganic pollutants, but there is no enough space are available in urban ...