Green Roof Development in ASEAN Countries: The Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

Green roofs (GRs) have emerged as an essential component for the sustainability of buildings, as they reduce the need for cooling energy by limiting heat transmission into building space. The benefits of implementing GRs are appropriate in tropical regions with hot temperatures. The entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is located in a tropical climate and receives about 12 h of sunlight every day throughout the year, which offers excellent opportunities to install GRs. This research reviews the literature on GR knowledge in ASEAN countries over the past decade (2012–2022) and discusses two main points including (i) GR development level status and (ii) GR performance regarding drivers, motivations, and barriers. The review reveals that Singapore and Malaysia are two among ten countries with significant developments in GRs. Barriers to expertise, government regulations, and public awareness of green roofs represent the most challenging aspects of GR implementation in ASEAN countries. Although research regarding the use of green roofs has been conducted widely, ASEAN countries still need to investigate regulatory breakthroughs, incentives, and technology applications to encourage the use of GRs. The review recommends promoting the use of GRs, which have the potential to reduce energy consumption by up to fifty percent, outdoor surface temperature up to 23.8 °C, and room temperature to 14 °C. The use of GRs can also mitigate runoff issues by up to 98.8% to avoid the risk of flooding in ASEAN countries, which have high rainfall. In addition, this review sheds new insights on providing future potential research to improve GR development in the ASEAN region.