Exploring the thermal benefits of plants in industrial areas with respect to the tropical climate

Abstract

The environment around the industrial buildings is considered to be relatively clean and neat in Singapore. However, the exposed factories with minimum planting are still the predominating image. The large areas of metal roofs absorb a lot of solar radiation and present high temperature which has been captured by a satellite image obtained above Singapore during the daytime. Some concerns have been raised according to the current situation of industrial buildings. One is the negative thermal impact caused by industrial buildings towards the environment, especially the exaggerating of Urban Heat Island effect. Another one is the concern of energy consumption in the industrial area since the higher temperatures in the industrial areas will increase the cooling energy use in the buildings. The concern of thermal discomfort to the occupants of those buildings which are naturally ventilated and the concern of aggravating the air pollution problem due to the elevation of air temperatures have also been raised. Therefore a joint research project has been conducted by National University of Singapore and Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) to study the potential of introducing vegetation in the industrial buildings and to determine the impact on the environmental conditions as well as the energy performance of the industrial buildings. This paper will present some preliminary findings obtained from the filed measurements. The possible savings in terms of cooling energy will be discussed according to the quantitative data as well.