Impact of Green Shading on Urban Bus Stop Structure

The linkages between green shades and places of waiting of urban bus commuters are very much required. The absence of green infrastructure along the bus stop, which negatively affects the air quality and discomfort to daily commuters. In this work, an attempt has been made to evaluate the passive cooling effects of tree shading on the urban bus stop structure. Experimental investigations on a bus stop structure have been conducted for both climatic conditions (summer and winter) in Surat, Gujarat, India. The passive cooling effects considered were the tree shading effects on the east wall due to three trees immediately next to the east wall of the structure. It was found that the experimental data were in good agreement (an error of ±7.34 %) with results of a mathematical model developed for analysis of this passive cooling impact in the urban area. The result indicates that trees constitute an excellent passive cooling method for controlling the effect of direct sunshine on bus stop structure. It also reduce the cooling load of the structure and offer a significant advantage over artificial sunscreens, double glazed windows and roof insulation. However, findings also showed that alone this passive cooling option cannot maintain thermal comfort during hot summer. It requires other passive options such as green roof garden and other effective options to keep the temperature at a comfortable level. The same methodology could apply to wide range of passive design to mitigate urban environment imbalance and develop a sustainable built environment for urban commuters.