On the energy impact of urban heat island in Sydney: Climate and energy potential of mitigation technologies

Coupling a Building Energy Simulation Tool with a Microclimate Model to Assess the Impact of Cool Pavements on the Building’s Energy Performance Application in a Dense Residential Area

“…Despite the less remarkable rise of solar gains, the achieved Tair reduction of the ambient air is of lower importance and thus, no modifications on the building unit's energy performance were noticed. Based on the abovementioned result, the potential of high albedo pavements on improving the energy performance of a building unit located in a dense urban area, was proven rather minor, while similar results were also reported in a previous scientific study of Santamouris et al [50]. Moreover, considering that the cooling potential of cool materials decreases as the distance from the ground increases [49], rather negligible changes on the heating and cooling energy demand are expected for the building units, located on the upper floors (i.e., above the 1 st floor level).…”

“…Up to the present time, the relevant scientific studies have primarily evaluated the cool pavements' effect with respect to the outdoor thermal comfort of pedestrians, using simulation means; the performed analysis involves the comparison of the obtained simulation results of the Tair at the human biometeorological height, (i.e., at 1.5 m from the ground level) along with other parameters affecting human thermal comfort, before and after the application of the high albedo materials [41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. On the other hand, only a small number of scientific studies have assessed the cool pavements' effect on reducing the Tair values at diverse vertical levels [48,49] or the way that their application influences the nearby buildings' energy demand [50]. Yet, based on the existing knowledge, microclimatic changes and the respective reduction of the ambient Tair due to cool pavements' applications, are expected to influence not only the pedestrians' thermal balance but also the energy performance of the buildings located inside the area under investigation [50][51][52].…”

“…On the other hand, only a small number of scientific studies have assessed the cool pavements' effect on reducing the Tair values at diverse vertical levels [48,49] or the way that their application influences the nearby buildings' energy demand [50]. Yet, based on the existing knowledge, microclimatic changes and the respective reduction of the ambient Tair due to cool pavements' applications, are expected to influence not only the pedestrians' thermal balance but also the energy performance of the buildings located inside the area under investigation [50][51][52].…”

Modified iButtons: A Low-Cost Instrument to Measure the Albedo of Landscape Elements

“…In the context of climate change and global warming, our urban air and surface temperatures are increasing [1,2]. Urban warming leads to increased cooling costs [3,4], predicted to rise even more in the coming decades due to the increased uptake of air conditioning units as global incomes rise [5]. Urban infill has decreased the size of residential gardens or landscapes, leading to increased impermeable surfaces and overall loss of vegetation [6].…”

Climate change impacts on peak building cooling energy demand in a coastal megacity

“…Moreover, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) expects peak demand increases to outpace energy consumption change due to the larger need for space cooling under warming weather conditions. Additionally, cities are often warmer than their surrounding rural areas, a phenomenon called the Urban Heat Island (UHI), which may lead to larger cooling loads (Hsieh et al 2007, Santamouris 2014, Santamouris et al 2018. These UHI impacts on local temperatures have been shown to increase during extreme heat events (Li and Bou-Zeid 2013, Ortiz et al 2018 due to positive feedbacks related to anthropogenic heat release and reduced urban soil evaporation.…”