Feasibility study for estimating optimal substrate parameters for sustainable green roof in Sri Lanka
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Spalevic, V
Dudic, B
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
In twenty-first century buildings, green roof systems are envisioned as great solution for improving Environmental sustainability in urban ecosystems and it helps to mitigate various health hazards for humans due to climatic pollution. This study determines the feasibility of using five domestic organic wastes, including sawdust, wood bark, biochar, coir, and compost, as sustainable substrates for green roofs as compared to classical Sri Lankan base medium (fertiliser + potting mix) in terms of physicochemical and biological parameters associated with growing mediums. Comprehensive methodologies were devised to determine the thermal conductivity and electric conductivity of growing mediums. According to preliminary experimental results, the most suitable composition for green roof substrates comprised 60% organic waste and 40% base medium. Sawdust growing medium exhibited the highest moisture content and minimum density magnitudes. Biochar substrate was the best performing medium with the highest drought resistance and vegetation growth. The wood bark substrate had the highest thermal resistance. Growing mediums based on compost, sawdust, and coir produced the best results in terms of nitrate, phosphate, pH, and electric conductivity (EC) existence. This study provided a standard set of comprehensive comparison methodologies utilising physicochemical and biological properties required for substrate characterization. The findings of this research work have strong potential in the future to be used in selecting the most suitable lightweight growing medium for a green roof based on stakeholder requirements.
Journal Title
Environment, Development and Sustainability
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Item Access Status
Note
This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Agriculture, land and farm management
Environmental management
Development studies
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Kader, SA; Spalevic, V; Dudic, B, Feasibility study for estimating optimal substrate parameters for sustainable green roof in Sri Lanka, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2022