Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean

A key strategy towards sustainable urban development is designing cities for increased circular metabolism. The transformation of areas underused, such as urban rooftops, into productive spaces is being increasingly implemented as a result of associated multiple benefits. Rooftop greenhouses (RTGs)...

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Authors: Corcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450X, Fiorentino, Gabriella|||0000-0002-4089-3822, Petit-Boix, Anna|||0000-0003-2048-2708, Rieradevall, Joan|||0000-0003-3360-6829, Gabarrell Durany, Xavier|||0000-0003-1730-4337
Format: article
Publication Date:2019
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:202549
Online Access:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/202549
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.040
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Cities
LCA
Agri-urban
Photovoltaic energy
Rooftop
Circular economy
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spelling Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterraneanan LCA comparison of agri-urban production and photovoltaic energy generationCorcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450XFiorentino, Gabriella|||0000-0002-4089-3822Petit-Boix, Anna|||0000-0003-2048-2708Rieradevall, Joan|||0000-0003-3360-6829Gabarrell Durany, Xavier|||0000-0003-1730-4337CitiesLCAAgri-urbanPhotovoltaic energyRooftopCircular economyA key strategy towards sustainable urban development is designing cities for increased circular metabolism. The transformation of areas underused, such as urban rooftops, into productive spaces is being increasingly implemented as a result of associated multiple benefits. Rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) are an interesting option for exploiting urban rooftops with direct exposure to sunlight, reducing food miles and creating new agricultural spaces, while building-applied solar photovoltaic (BAPV) panels provide clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, a proper assessment of environmental costs and benefits related to both systems is vital for a successful implementation. By means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, modelled in the professional software SimaPro, this paper aims at comparing the environmental performance of different productive uses of rooftops under Mediterranean climatic conditions. The results showed that both systems are favourable and contribute to decreasing the environmental impacts thanks to the production of resources on-site. BAPV system shows the highest avoided burdens in comparison with RTG: for instance, the impacts generated by BAPV on climate change and fossil depletion categories, corresponding to - 430 kg CO₂ eq/m² and - 110 kg oil eq/m² respectively (versus - 22 kg CO₂ eq/m² and - 4.7 kg oil eq/m² in the RTG system), are around 20 times lower than RTG. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was performed through different scenarios, based on reductions or substitution of the most sensitive input flows, thus providing some useful tools for improved environmental performances. Attention to additional energy and material efficiency, in favour of the more environmentally sustainable choice, should remain a main point of investigation. 22019-01-0120192019-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/202549https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.040reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengEuropean Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 649342Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 FPU13/01273open accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2025492026-06-06T12:50:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
an LCA comparison of agri-urban production and photovoltaic energy generation
title Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
spellingShingle Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
Corcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450X
Cities
LCA
Agri-urban
Photovoltaic energy
Rooftop
Circular economy
title_short Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
title_full Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
title_fullStr Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
title_full_unstemmed Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
title_sort Transforming rooftops into productive urban spaces in the Mediterranean
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Corcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450X
Fiorentino, Gabriella|||0000-0002-4089-3822
Petit-Boix, Anna|||0000-0003-2048-2708
Rieradevall, Joan|||0000-0003-3360-6829
Gabarrell Durany, Xavier|||0000-0003-1730-4337
author Corcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450X
author_facet Corcelli, F.|||0000-0002-7394-450X
Fiorentino, Gabriella|||0000-0002-4089-3822
Petit-Boix, Anna|||0000-0003-2048-2708
Rieradevall, Joan|||0000-0003-3360-6829
Gabarrell Durany, Xavier|||0000-0003-1730-4337
author_role author
author2 Fiorentino, Gabriella|||0000-0002-4089-3822
Petit-Boix, Anna|||0000-0003-2048-2708
Rieradevall, Joan|||0000-0003-3360-6829
Gabarrell Durany, Xavier|||0000-0003-1730-4337
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Cities
LCA
Agri-urban
Photovoltaic energy
Rooftop
Circular economy
topic Cities
LCA
Agri-urban
Photovoltaic energy
Rooftop
Circular economy
description A key strategy towards sustainable urban development is designing cities for increased circular metabolism. The transformation of areas underused, such as urban rooftops, into productive spaces is being increasingly implemented as a result of associated multiple benefits. Rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) are an interesting option for exploiting urban rooftops with direct exposure to sunlight, reducing food miles and creating new agricultural spaces, while building-applied solar photovoltaic (BAPV) panels provide clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, a proper assessment of environmental costs and benefits related to both systems is vital for a successful implementation. By means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, modelled in the professional software SimaPro, this paper aims at comparing the environmental performance of different productive uses of rooftops under Mediterranean climatic conditions. The results showed that both systems are favourable and contribute to decreasing the environmental impacts thanks to the production of resources on-site. BAPV system shows the highest avoided burdens in comparison with RTG: for instance, the impacts generated by BAPV on climate change and fossil depletion categories, corresponding to - 430 kg CO₂ eq/m² and - 110 kg oil eq/m² respectively (versus - 22 kg CO₂ eq/m² and - 4.7 kg oil eq/m² in the RTG system), are around 20 times lower than RTG. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was performed through different scenarios, based on reductions or substitution of the most sensitive input flows, thus providing some useful tools for improved environmental performances. Attention to additional energy and material efficiency, in favour of the more environmentally sustainable choice, should remain a main point of investigation.
publishDate 2019
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2019-01-01
2019
2019-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/202549
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.040
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/202549
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.040
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv European Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 649342
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 FPU13/01273
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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