Building-Integrated Microalgae Photobioreactor: An Adaptive Solution to Urban Heat Island Mitigation
摘要
Building envelopes and their materials can play a considerable role in mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon as one of the crucial challenges of human life. Acting as an interface between inside and outside, building envelopes have not only an essential role in enhancing the sustainability-oriented performance of buildings but also in UHI mitigation (UHIM) by providing energy efficiency for building and controlling heat/light absorption. Accordingly, adopting suitable facade technologies can noticeably contribute to improving buildings’ environmental condition and alleviating UHI. Meanwhile, integrating microalgae photobioreactor (PBR) with the building envelope, known as microalgae bioadaptive façade (MBF), is regarded as a newly emerged biofaçade technology with great potential to enhance the capacity of buildings to meet UHI and its adverse environmental impacts. However, this issue has not been addressed by previous research, comprehensively. This chapter is to examine and categorize different potential aspects of MBF as an adaptive strategy to reduce the UHI effect and analyze its performance in comparison to common green wall systems. In light of the conclusions achieved during the course of the research, it was discussed that MBF prospects for UHI alleviation can be considered as providing energy efficiency through biomass production, (adaptable) shading and thermal insulation, as well as air purification. Besides, the role of MBF as the building’s second skin in providing natural ventilation and controlling wind flow can be considered potentially in regulating the building’s thermal load.