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Green curtains spreading across urban balconies to cool heat islands
May 26, 2011
Green curtains spreading across urban balconies to cool heat islands
As power shortages loom across Japan this summer because of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, people are turning to a tested-and-true method of cooling down rooms by blocking the sun's rays--"green curtains."
According to a guideline on urban greenery, the Tokyo metropolitan government, which has started distributing seeds at parks and other public facilities, green curtains can lower indoor temperatures by up to 1.7 degrees.
Toilet manufacturer TOTO Ltd., meanwhile, has announced the results of an experiment it conducted at its Oita factory last year.
TOTO grew a green curtain of goya, "hechima" (sponge cucumber) and morning glories that was 10 meters tall and 200 meters long outside its Oita plant walls. The company reported the curtain lowered temperatures inside the plant by an average 2 degrees, and a maximum 5 degrees, during the hot summer months.
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