Our Research
Background
Green walls, both outdoor and indoor, are a popular venue through which sustainability and other environmental concerns, like air quality, are addressed. With the popularity of green wall usage in recent years, the effects of these walls on the surrounding environment and its residents has been thoroughly observed. In addition to its aesthetically pleasing nature, green walls have been found to improve air quality, mitigate heat island intensity, lower building energy usage and cost, and even increase the productivity of the office workers near them.
The Problem?
Despite this, green walls are extremely water intensive. With the rise of water scarcity in many communities around the world, it is imperative that green walls become more efficient in order to maximize their impact.
Our Solution
Recycling greywater (wastewater that through its use did not pick-up organic material such as food waste and is not as polluted as sewage) with green walls is a potential solution. The walls can be used to treat the greywater while also maintaining them. This project intends to research the efficiency of pollutant removal of grey water by green walls, considering the best native plants for a Maryland ecosystem, the filtration methods of the water, the volume of water needed, and much more.
Project Scope
What needs to be achieved?
The research project aims to increase the efficiency of pollutant removal from greywater via the green wall. In order to achieve this, the project must cover the design of the green wall, the data collection process, and the interpretation and real-life implementation of the results.
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In terms of design, the green wall will either be indoors or outdoors, and must be composed of water-efficient, pollutant-resilient plants capable of thriving in a Maryland climate and effectively filtering the greywater. The physical layout of the green wall will also be investigated and decided on in an aim to increase pollutant removal and the saturation levels of the plants. Additionally, possible plant media will be researched and experimented on for the sake of increasing efficiency.
In the scope of data collection, the water quantity used as well as the quality of the greywater before and after green water filtration will be examined, specifically focusing on main pollutants (like e-coli). These results lay the groundwork for concluding the best design, layout, medium, and method of green wall filtration of pollutants.
In a social context, the impact of the green wall on the local campus community among other equity-related assessments will be investigated.