From Florence Leroy, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK
The idea of using vegetation on buildings to cool them in hot climates is interesting. However, an architect friend fears certain problems. The last thing you want around buildings and walls is something that can catch and propagate fire easily. Dried plants (in very hot climates) potentially could. Installing vegetation on balconies or roofs presupposes a system will be in place and maintained to make sure the plants don’t dry up and die, which could increase cost tremendously (23 November, p 36).
