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a b s t r a c tThis review paper organizes and summarizes the literature on Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) when used as passive tool for energy savings in buildings. First, with the information obtained in the reviewed literature some key aspects to consider when working with VGS are clarified, such as the classification systems, the climate influence, the plant species used and the different operating mechanisms. Then, the main conclusions of this literature, sorted by construction system (Green Walls or Green Façades) and climatic situation, are summarized. In general, it can be concluded that VGS provide great potential in reducing energy consumption in buildings, especially in the cooling periods. However, a lack of data on operation during the heating period as well as during the whole year has been found. On the other hand, results show that the investigations of VGS are not equally distributed around the world, being basically concentrated in Europe and Asia. Moreover, the review concludes that some aspects must be studied in depth, such as which species are the most suitable for each climate, influence on energy savings of the façade orientation, foliage thickness, presence of air layers, and finally, substrate layer composition and thickness in the case of green walls.

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During the last decade, vertical greenery systems are increasing their presence in building designs, providing several urban ecosystem services. One of them is the potential to provide energy savings in buildings, which develops an important role, however, data about its performance during winter periods is still scarce. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to compare at real scale the thermal performance of two different vertical greenery systems implemented in experimental houses-like cubicles for both cooling and heating periods. A double-skin green facade has been installed in the first cubicle that uses deciduous creeper plants, while the second one is designed with green walls made with evergreen species. Finally, a third identical cubicle without any green coverage is used as reference. Two different types of experiments have been carried out to test the performance of the house like-cubicles. One consists of controlling the internal ambient temperature providing heating or cooling to maintain the desired comfort conditions. On the other hand, to study the thermal response of the construction system, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was disconnected and the cubicles were tested under free floating condition. First results showed a high potential for energy savings during cooling season for green wall (58.9 %) and double-skin green facade (33.8 %) in comparison to the reference system. On the other hand, for heating periods no extra energy consumption was observed for evergreen system.

a b s t r a c tSustainability trends for buildings require new construction systems to foster energy efficiency and environmentally friendly buildings. Green roofs are interesting construction systems because they provide both aesthetic and environmental benefits. This paper continues a long-term research in order to evaluate and improve the thermal behaviour and sustainability of extensive green roofs. Simultaneously this research provides experimental data for specific Mediterranean continental climate conditions. The experiment consists in evaluating the energy consumption and thermal behaviour of three identical house-like cubicles located in Puigverd de Lleida (Spain), where the only difference is the roof construction system. The roof consists of a conventional flat roof with insulation in the reference case, while in the other two cubicles the insulation layer has been replaced by a 9 cm depth extensive green roof (comparing recycled rubber crumbs and pozzolana as drainage layer materials). The electrical energy consumption of a heat pump system was measured for each cubicle during 2012 and part of 2013. Both extensive green roof cubicles show less energy consumption (16.7% and 2.2%, respectively) than the reference one during warm periods, whereas both extensive green roof systems present a higher energy consumption (6.1% and 11.1%, respectively) compared to the reference cubicle during heating periods.

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