To analyze thermal and energy performance of living wall system in Shanghai area,field experiments were carried out in summer and winter.And the measurement results indicated that living wall not only had better thermal insulation performance than corresponding common wall in both seasons,but also had the ability to cool the local air.A coupled heat and moisture transfer model with consideration of multiple radiation reflection in plant canopy space was then developed and validated by the experimental data.Based on the model,an energy balance analysis was conducted to elucidate the difference of heat transfer mechanism between living wall and common wall.It was found that evapotranspiration accounted for more than 50%of heat release in summer for living wall.And in winter,evaporation intensity was very small,and heat convection consumes most of heat gain.Furthermore,additional equivalent thermal resistance was calculated to evaluate the average thermal performance of living wall according to the long-term simulation results of both walls.It was indicated that additional equivalent thermal resistance of living wall was not a fixed value,and its value in summer was larger than that in winter.Finally,a sensitivity test was carried out to distinguish the significant factors that affect long-term thermal performance of living wall,including plant parameters,substrate parameters,structure layer parameters,indoor conditions,weather parameters and irrigation frequency.Based on the method in this paper,it is possible to have a relative accurate evaluation of living wall thermal performance and judge whether living wall system satisfies the insulation rule of local energy conservation.