Green Roofs: Sustainable approach for energy saving in buildings

Green roofs are a passive cooling technique that stops incoming solar radiation from reaching the building structure below. Many studies have been conducted over the past 10 years to consider the potential building energy benefits of green roofs and shown that they can offer benefits in winter heating reduction as well as summer cooling. The advantages of the planned green roofs are undoubtfully numerous from both the ecological and social point of view. They act positively upon the climate of the city and its region as well upon the interior climate of the buildings beneath them. They give protection from the solar radiation which is the main factor in passive cooling, by reducing thermal fluctuation on the outer surface of the roof and by heat during the winter. Due to decrease of the thermal losses, the green roofs save the energy consumption. This paper highlights the brief history, types of green roofs thermal behavior of green roofs along with the advantages of green roofs.