Evaluating Mitigation Effects of Urban Heat Islands in a Historical Small Center with the ENVI-Met ® Climate Model

Dario Ambrosini, Giorgio Galli, Biagio Mancini, Iole Nardi and Stefano Sfarra
Additional contact information
Dario Ambrosini: Las.E.R Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (DIIIE), University of L'Aquila, Piazzale Pontieri, Monteluco di Roio—67100 L'Aquila, Italy
Giorgio Galli: Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energetics Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana, 18—00184 Roma, Italy
Biagio Mancini: Las.E.R Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (DIIIE), University of L'Aquila, Piazzale Pontieri, Monteluco di Roio—67100 L'Aquila, Italy
Iole Nardi: Las.E.R Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (DIIIE), University of L'Aquila, Piazzale Pontieri, Monteluco di Roio—67100 L'Aquila, Italy
Stefano Sfarra: Las.E.R Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (DIIIE), University of L'Aquila, Piazzale Pontieri, Monteluco di Roio—67100 L'Aquila, Italy

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Urban morphology and increasing building density play a key role in the overall use of energy and promotion of environmental sustainability. The urban environment causes a local increase of temperature, a phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI). The purpose of this work is the study of the possible formation of an UHI and the evaluation of its magnitude, in the context of a small city, carried out with the ENVI-met ® software. For this purpose, a simulation was needed, and this simulation is preparatory for a monitoring campaign on site, which will be held in the immediate future. ENVI-met ® simulates the temporal evolution of several thermodynamics parameters on a micro-scale range, creating a 3D, non-hydrostatic model of the interactions between building-atmosphere-vegetation. The weather conditions applied simulate a typical Italian summer heat wave. Three different case-studies have been analyzed: Base Case , Cool Case and Green Case . Analysis of the actual state in the Base Case shows how even in an area with average building density, such as the old town center of a small city, fully developed UHI may rise with strong thermal gradients between built areas and open zones with plenty of vegetation. These gradients arise in a really tiny space (few hundreds of meters), showing that the influence of urban geometry can be decisive in the characterization of local microclimate. Simulations, carried out considering the application of green or cool roofs, showed small relevant effects as they become evident only in large areas heavily built up (metropolis) subject to more intense climate conditions.

Keywords: urban heat island; ENVI-Met ®; cool roof; green roof (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/7013/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/7013/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:7013-7029:d:41059

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().