Norimitsu Ishii

Effects of Green Curtains to Improve the Living Environment

A green curtain means vertical planting of vines over a building surface. It is expected to improve indoor thermal environment of the building in summer, because it has a number of leaves shading a wall surface and windows of the building. However, it is also supposed to be obstacles to natural ventilation. Some experiments were done to confirm these environmental performances of green curtains. Model green curtains for the experiments were made of bitter gourd vines. A questionnaire survey for green curtain users was also carried out in Hamamatsu, Japan, to collect data about the amount of energy saved by green curtains and about the effect of green curtains on natural ventilation in residential houses. Results of the experiments and the survey indicate obvious effects of green curtains on indoor thermal environment.

THE FEATURES OF SUBURBAN MUNICIPALITIES THAT THE PERCENTAGE OF ELDERLY SINGLE AND COUPLE HOUSEHOLDS WHO LIVE IN BIG DETACHED HOUSES ARE HIGH

The purpose of this study is to clarify the features of suburban municipalities as the notion that elderly people who live in suburban areas change residence and put out their real estate assets in rental market to improve their living conditions. At first, we analyzed the number of elderly single and couple households who live in big detached house. The analysis revealed that about 3.7 million elderly single and couple households live in residences which are over 100 and about 42% of these households live in suburban areas. Then, we analyzed the features of municipalities where there is a high percentage of these households. The result of analysis show that about 38% of these municipalities are located in suburban areas and can further be classified into five types using follow parameter: households, residences, economic levels and industry.