The Impact of Local Microclimate Boundary Conditions on Building Energy Performance

Anna Laura Pisello, Gloria Pignatta, Veronica Lucia Castaldo and Franco Cotana
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Anna Laura Pisello: CIRIAF—Interuniversity Research Center on Pollution and Environment "M. Felli", University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 63, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Gloria Pignatta: CIRIAF—Interuniversity Research Center on Pollution and Environment "M. Felli", University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 63, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Veronica Lucia Castaldo: CIRIAF—Interuniversity Research Center on Pollution and Environment "M. Felli", University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 63, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Franco Cotana: CIRIAF—Interuniversity Research Center on Pollution and Environment "M. Felli", University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 63, 06125 Perugia, Italy

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: Local environmental boundaries play an important role in determining microclimate conditions affecting thermal-energy behavior of buildings. In this scenario, the purpose of the present work is to investigate how residential buildings are affected by different local microclimate conditions. To this aim, the continuous microclimate monitoring of (i) a rural area; (ii) a suburban area; and (iii) an urban area is carried out, and the comparative analysis of the different boundary conditions is performed. In particular, the effect of the presence of a large lake in the rural area on building energy demand for heating and cooling is evaluated, both in winter and summer. Coupled degree hour method and numerical analysis are performed in order to predict the energy requirement of buildings subject to local microclimate boundary conditions. The main results show higher air temperature and relative humidity values for the rural area. No significant mitigation effect due to the lake presence is found in urban and suburban areas because of the peculiar wind regime of the region. Additionally, the dynamic thermal-energy simulation shows a decrease of 14% and 25% in the heating consumption and an increase of 58% and 194% in cooling requirements of buildings situated in the rural area around the lake compared to the urban and suburban areas, respectively.

Keywords: continuous microclimate monitoring; lake environment; degree hour method; dynamic simulation; energy efficiency in buildings; climate boundary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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