Roofs of the Future: Rooftop Greenhouses to Improve Buildings Metabolism

Pons, Oriol; Nadal, Ana; Sanyé‐Mengual, Esther; Llorach-Massana, Pere; Cuerva, Eva; Sanjuan-Delmás, David; Muñoz, Pere; Oliver-Solà, Jordi; Planas, Carla; Rovira, Maria Rosa

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2015.10.084

Cited by 63 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…These existing RTGs are constructed on roofs that are isolated from buildings. However, this kind of RTG can also be integrated (i-RTG) into a building, using the residual hot and cold air supplied by the building to provide an optimum range of temperatures for the crops and even using the greywater or rainwater collected in or on the building for irrigating the crops (Cer on- Palma et al, 2011;Nadal et al, 2017;Pons et al, 2015;Sanjuan-Delm as et al, 2018).…”

Section: Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

A study on air quality and heavy metals content of urban food produced in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona)

Ercilla-Montserrat

Muñoz

Montero

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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a b s t r a c tUrban agriculture is growing in cities and is rising to the roofs of buildings. The potential food contamination is a key issue to be resolved to guarantee the health of consumers, and it affects both urban agriculture promoters and consumers. Crop contamination from the soil can be overcome by adopting a soilless cultivation system that, with good management practices, can also avoid contamination from the fertirrigation system and pest treatments. It has recently increased the number of soilless cultivation systems in cities due to the good features it offers. This study focuses on the potential contamination of heavy metals in hydroponic lettuce crops due to atmospheric pollution in high-traffic areas. The contents of heavy metal in the air and the lettuce leaves were measured at 4 sites: a periurbanintegrated rooftop greenhouse, a periurban rooftop, an urban courtyard and an urban rooftop. Highvolume sensors were used to assess air contamination. Lettuce leaves were analysed to evaluate the heavy metal concentrations.The results show that the heavy metal concentration in lettuce leaves is also below the EU-legislated limit in all studied cases. Specifically, the concentrations below the detectable analytic values were <0.02 mgNi/kg, <0.008 mgHg/kg, 0.005mgAs/kg and <0.005 mgCd/kg. The Pb concentration ranged from 0.0060 mg/kg to 0.0244 mg/kg. Although the chosen sampling locations were close to high-density roads and they are more vulnerable to a high concentration of metals, in the 4 sampling points heavy metal concentration in the air were less than 50% of the limits established in the legislation as the lower assessment threshold. This study concludes that the heavy metal content in the air of Barcelona is low and is not a source of contamination for urban crops including high traffic areas.

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Section: Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

A study on air quality and heavy metals content of urban food produced in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona)

Ercilla-Montserrat

Muñoz

Montero

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…The generation range of the air conditioner is a function of the amount of power consumed (P ac t,n ), as given by Equation (35). Constraints of water temperature (P ho_htp t,n ) for heat pipe (P ho_htp min , P ho_htp max ) are given by Equation (36). Constraints of temperature for each household in the building are divided into four categories, as shown in Equation (37).…”

Section: Building Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, by integrating food production into buildings, the self-sufficiency of cities can be increased and transportation requirements and environmental impacts can be reduced [31][32][33][34]. Therefore recently, various research has been performed on the applicability of rooftop greenhouses [35][36][37][38][39][40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [35], a residential building with rooftop greenhouse is analyzed for quantifying the environmental impacts and energy requirements. The techno-economic and environmental impacts of integrating rooftop greenhouses in buildings are analyzed by [36][37][38][39]. In [36], the effect on the indoor temperature of the last floor apartments is analyzed by installing greenhouse on the rooftop.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The techno-economic and environmental impacts of integrating rooftop greenhouses in buildings are analyzed by [36][37][38][39]. In [36], the effect on the indoor temperature of the last floor apartments is analyzed by installing greenhouse on the rooftop. The analysis of rooftop greenhouse for controlling energy and emissions flow is carried out via the integration of energy, water, and CO 2 flows.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Multi-Agent System-Based Approach for Optimal Operation of Building Microgrids with Rooftop Greenhouse

et al. 2018

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In this paper, an optimal energy management scheme for building microgrids with rooftop greenhouse is proposed. A building energy management system (BEMS) is utilized for the optimal fulfilment of energy demands in the building and the greenhouse. The exhaust heat generated due to the operation of air conditioners in the building is used for fulfilling the cooling demands of the greenhouse via chillers. In addition to thermal and cooling demands, the four major control parameters (temperature, humidity, light intensity, and CO 2 concentration) are also considered for optimal growth of crops in the greenhouse. A multi-agent system (MAS) is adopted to realize the interaction among several households of the building, the greenhouse, and the BEMS. The MAS comprises of several inner-level, intermediate level, and upper-level agents, which are responsible for their respective tasks. The performance of the proposed optimization strategy is evaluated for two seasons of a year, i.e., summer and winter. Numerical simulations have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed operation scheme for optimal operation of building microgrids with rooftop greenhouses.

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