Andrea Pianella

Andrea (Andrew) Pianella’s PhD investigated the thermal performance of green roofs.

Andrea’s project sought to quantify the effects of substrate, soil moisture and the vegetation on the thermal fluxes through the green roofs.

In order to achieve this, transient models were developed, and then validated with field experiments. The developed models were implemented as a module to interface with existing building energy simulation software tools such as EnergyPlus and TRNSYS.

Andrea quantified the energy saving potential of green roofs in areas with Mediterranean and temperate climates and help the selection of appropriate substrates and plant species to provide optimal thermal performance.

The research was an interdisciplinary project involving the Faculty of Science and the Melbourne School of Engineering and funded by the University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council.

Andrew has a background in environmental engineering, landscape architecture and planning, and he is interested in sustainable and energy efficient buildings and cities. Before moving to Australia, he lived and worked in Germany, England, the USA and, of course, Italy.

Contact

andrea.pianella@unimelb.edu.au

pianella@yahoo.com

Supervisors

A/Prof Nick WilliamsA/Prof Lu Aye, Dr Dong Chen

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