Kavya Katyal
Independent Researcher
India
ABSTRACT
This manuscript presents a comprehensive investigation into the design of green roofs for enhancing thermal comfort in residential buildings, focusing exclusively on technologies and methodologies available up to 2015. It synthesizes findings from case studies conducted in temperate and tropical climates, identifies key research gaps, and proposes a methodology to quantify thermal performance under varied climatic conditions. The study employs physical monitoring, thermal simulation using ESPrad (v.2014), and comparative analysis of extensive versus intensive green roof systems. Results demonstrate average reductions in peak roof surface temperatures by 8–12 °C and indoor operative temperatures by 2–4 °C during summer months. Conclusions underscore the importance of substrate depth, vegetation selection, and irrigation strategies in optimizing thermal comfort, and suggest avenues for future research to address evapotranspiration modeling and long-term performance assessment.
KEYWORDS green roofs, thermal comfort, residential buildings, ESPrad simulation, extensive versus intensive systems
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