TY - JOUR
TI - Energy consumption for space cooling and heating depending on flat roof structures renovation. Case study of the Healthcare center Niš
AU - Stamenković Marija G
AU - Vučković Goran
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2023
VL - 27
IS - 3
SP - 2465
EP - 2476
PT - Article
AB - Since the reduction of energy consumption and efficient energy use,  particularly in the building stock, is the priority for contemporary  societies, the ways of how to improve the existing buildings should be  examined. Flat roofs, as a part of the existing building thermal envelope,  are recognized as a field of intervention for improving efficient energy use  for space cooling and heating. The topic of the paper is to determine to  what extent different improved roof structures affect energy consumption  intended to achieve thermal comfort. Comparative analysis of four roof  structures was conducted for the building of Healthcare center Niš in  Serbia, one improved non-walkable flat roof structure and three green roof  systems. Urbancsape extensive green roof system was used in all tested green  roof models: non-walkable extensive green roof, walkable extensive green  roof, and extensive and intensive green roof systems within walkable  terraces. DesignBuilder software was used for energy modeling. The obtained  results indicate a slight decrease in energy consumption for building models  with green roofs compared to the building model with the improved  non-walkable roof structure, along the cooling period, by approximately  1,5%, which is correlated with previous studies in similar conditions. On  the other hand, the reduction of energy consumption over the heating period  was negligible (less than 1%). Considering the results and predominant usage  of commercial Urbanscape extensive green roof system in all green roof  models, being characterized by small thickness (10.64 cm) and light  structure, and which is predicted to be installed over the already  well-insulated roof, the system’s role as an additional thermal mass was  confirmed.