Cost-benefit analysis of living wall systems on school building skins in a hot climate

Abstract

This study is based on a local green school initiative that takes place at an international school in the city of Al Ain, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Despite the valuable advantages of the use of living wall systems (LWSs) pointed out by authors in previous research, there is little experience of using this technique, and the additional costs associated with a vegetated living wall installed on a building facade generally concern developers. To get a clear picture of the real financial incentives of using living wall strategies as a high-energy efficient skin, this study investigates a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the installed LWS, taking into consideration the energy saving and environmental impact of the building skins. The actual installation and running costs of the LWSs are mainly compared with the reduction of cooling loads and increased value of the property, while the related environmental benefits are ignored at this stage.