With nationwide emphasis on being environment friendly and conserving resources, beautiful creations like a Green Wall are bound to become common place in most commercial and residential buildings. A Green Wall, also known as living wall, bio wall or a vertical garden, is a living plant based exterior or interior wall to buildings or homes which may be free standing structures or part of the building. They are more frequently composed of climbing plants, but there are other options that some designers have incorporated in which the plants are grown in specially made support structure and growth media such as soil.
The benefits of a Green Wall go far beyond aesthetics. A Green Wall is a natural insulation that helps to maintain and regulate the temperature within a building. It has been observed that the exterior of a wall with a Green Wall is 10 degrees cooler than an exposed wall. With the rising costs and shortage of energy, this feature reduces consumption of energy for heating or cooling in a multiple occupancy building. Green Walls have the ability to cut electricity bills up to 20% and also shield the building from sun, rain and thermal fluctuations.
Living walls used on the interior of a building can also help to maintain humidity levels as well as assist in the air filtration, which can be a problem for some commercial buildings because they are located in crowded parts of the city.
Another benefit of Green Walls is that they can be a means of water reuse. The plants may purify slightly polluted water by breaking down the nutrients and filtering into the water system. They also have the ability to absorb noise and reduce noise pollution inside the building while increasing the property value of a building.