Green Wall Benefits

 

Aesthetics

 

 

With each project we aim to create a strikingly beautiful, unique and original work of art designed to best complement its surroundings. When visiting botanical gardens or public parks, taking a stroll in a park or hiking through a forest it is easy to see that nature has come up with a huge variety of colours, textures, patterns and sizes. By utilizing this diversity and incorporating hundreds of species of plants it is possible to create living art.

 

Designing a green wall which is diverse, eye-catching, intriguing and simply a pleasure to look at is a complex task. It requires strategic planning, in-depth knowledge of countless plants species, a strong eye for design and a whole lot of creativity! The team at Greenflow possess these skills and works with its clients to create spectacular livings.

 

 

Building Protection

 

Green walls protect buildings. They do this by reducing temperature fluctuations of the envelope. A constant flux in temperature leads to the expansion and contraction of building materials. This results in cracks, fractures and general deterioration.

 

The special method in which our green walls are framed enhances building protection. The waterproof living wall panels and the exterior envelope are separated by a layer of air, allowing the building to ‘breath’.

 

Covering an exposed vertical surface with a green wall shields it from precipitation and wind as well as from harmful UV radiation and corrosive acid rain. This in turn increases the integrity and longevity of a building’s exterior.

 

Property Value

 

Living walls are at the cutting edge of design trends. They have been featured in (or on) upper end hotels and restaurants, designer retail stores, chic spas, exclusive clubs, basically any place looking for distinction; something that makes them stand out from their competitors. A living wall does just that.

 

Living walls are also great marketing tools that can be used to promote a company’s green image. For example, car dealerships have installed green walls right before the release of new hybrid or electric vehicles. This speaks directly to the green consumer.

 

In addition to being a marketable green feature, a living wall can increase property values of homes and businesses. Studies have shown that by simply having plants in and around a building or home can increase real estate values by up to 20%. A living wall is a unique way to add more greenery to your ‘interiorscape’ design or exterior landscaping plan and attract more people interested in purchasing your property.

Furthermore, it has been proven that by having greenery in retail shops, malls, restaurants, cafes, bars and other businesses, the number of client increases. Studies have also attributed significantly higher occupancy rates at hotels which incorporate gardens and plants compared to those without. A green wall is a great way to provide the greenery that people want. If they feel less stress, become more relaxed, they will end up staying.

 

 

Air Quality

 

 

We currently live in a world where little is untouched by man. Pollution reaches the farthest corners of the planet. It is almost enough to make you want to run inside and hide! However, this may not be the best idea because according to modern scientific research, indoor environments may be as much as ten times more polluted than the outdoor environment. This is known as “Sick Building Syndrome”.

The average person spends over 90% of their time indoors. We are constantly being bombarded with indoor air pollution. This includes toxic fumes such as formaldehyde, VOCs, trichloroethylene, carbon monoxide, benzene, toluene, xylene, and countless others.

The good news is that all plants absorb and clean pollutants from the air. Certain tropical species are more efficient than others. At Greenflow we always make sure that each of our green walls contains ample numbers of the plants which are best at improving air quality. A single potted plant removes a portion of these airborne toxins and with each additional plant this increases. A green wall can contain over a thousand plants, all of which filter air and in addition create energy-rich oxygen.

 

 

Energy Savings

 

 

Naturally everything heats up when exposed to solar radiation. A building is not different. During the summer it leads to an increased demand on cooling systems and the energy they require. Studies have shown that the surface of an exterior green wall is up to 10°C cooler than an exposed wall, therefore considerably less heat is radiated inward. Not only do green walls reduce cooling requirements but they also help to mitigate the urban heat island effect.

 

Interior green walls also help to save energy during the summer. Through the process known as transpiration plants actually cool their surrounding environment slightly. With each additional plant this increases and therefore a green wall, with hundreds of plants, can reduce the temperature of a room by anywhere from 3 to 7°C. Some studies have shown that interior green walls can cut electricity bills by up to 20%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acoustics

 

 

Have you ever been in a large room full of people talking and you feel like you have to yell so the person next to you can hear? Did you feel overwhelmed by the amount of noise and left the room with a ringing in your ears? This is due to the echo created by all of the people’s voices or music bouncing off the walls, ceilings, floors and other hard objects in the room.

Studies have shown that the leaves of plants attenuate sound by reflecting, refracting and absorbing acoustic energy in small amounts. The amount of noise reduction is proportional to the number of plants that are present in a room. Green walls contain such a large number of plants that the acoustics of a room can be substantially improved.

 

Plants and trees have been used for years as barriers against traffic and other urban noise pollution. Green walls built on the exteriors of buildings will do the same. They insulate against noise, vibrations and reduce sound penetration. In addition they help to absorb the echo bouncing off buildings and dampen the noise pollution of modern cities.

 

 

Health & Wellness

 

Living in urban environments, we are surrounded by concrete, traffic, noise and pollution. This is not healthy. It has a profound impact on our physical and mental wellness. Greenery softens this hard environment, acting as a tonic to ease stress and fatigue. Green walls provide a substantial and spiritual connection to nature which is missing in the modern concrete jungle.

Studies have shown that simply having a view of greenery increases workplace productivity. Furthermore, having plants indoors reduces symptoms of discomfort. This decreases the number of days off due to “sickness”. Gardens that are incorporated into hospitals calm patients leading to the improvement in clinical outcomes and shortened stays.

Air quality is an important aspect of health and wellness and plants have been proven to filter and remove toxins. They also add energy rich oxygen. With each additional plant these benefits are multiplied.

 

Why is it that people feel more relaxed and less stressed around greenery? It is most likely due to man’s evolutionary bond with plants. According to some optometrists the human eye can distinguish between 2,000 shades of green, but only 100 shades of red. Through human evolution, recognizing a plant’s shade of green was really important when you were about to eat it or use it for shelter or medicine. This could be one of the reasons why we feel so comfortable around plants.

According to scientific reports carried out at American and European Universities, simply having a view of plants in a working environment give positive physiological responses. This translates into greater employee efficiency which results in increased earnings for a company.

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainability

 

At Greenflow we are committed to improving the environment and helping to make the cities we live in more sustainable. Our green walls help buildings become more energy efficient which leads to a decrease in carbon emissions. They also mitigate the urban heat island effect, absorb and filter stormwater, reduce pollution and act as carbon sinks.

In addition to using a wide range of native and locally adapted vegetation on our outdoor walls, beneficial organisms, such as small birds, butterflies, bees and ladybugs are attracted to these green oases.

 

Therefore, in winter green wall built with our Easy to access living wall planter provides an additional layer of insulation keeping the cold out and warmth in. These features act to reduce the carbon footprint of a building.

The urban heat island effect is defined as a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. A large portion of this heat comes from the multitude of hard surfaces, including exposed walls, which radiate the sun’s energy. Vegetation has been shown to reduce this effect and the negative impacts it has on life quality.

Green walls naturally absorb and filter stormwater. It is also possible to irrigate them using collected rainwater. The roots, and microorganisms living around them, utilize and remove pollutants found in the water. Excess water is eliminated through the process known as evapotranspiration.

 

As plants grow they absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store it in their tissues, basically acting as carbon sponges. The way we arrange the plants in our living wall system is quite dense which means that we are able to have many in a small amount of space. Therefore the carbon that is sequestered (i.e. absorbed and stored) from, say, a 20 m2 (215 ft2) wall is about the same as a medium sized tree.

If you were to go back in time, before any city or agricultural land was developed what you would find is an ecosystem that is very diverse, containing many different plants and animal species. Modern cities and croplands have severely reduced that biological variety. Our outdoor living walls can be viewed as mini ecosystems; the incorporation of such a variety of plant species supports many beneficial organisms such as butterflies, bees, ladybugs and humming birds.

As most people are well aware, rainforests are being cut down and burnt at an alarming rate with over 6000 square meters (1.5 acres) of rainforest lost every second. Experts estimate that we are losing 45 plant species every single day due to rainforest destruction. This equates to over 16,000 species extinction a year! The plants that we use on our indoor green walls are almost all native to tropical rainforests, living under the forest canopy. Whenever possible we try to include species that are threatened in their natural habitat.

Although a subject of debate, supporters of zoos claim that having wildlife in captivity, where people can visit, appreciate and learn about the animals, teaches them to conserve the ones threatened in the wild. One could argue that the same principle can be applied to a green wall. If people are up close and personal with a multitude of plant species perhaps they will have a greater appreciation for the natural world and try harder to halt habitat destruction.

 

​