Building Energy
Climate change, and in particular the urban heat effect, is expected to have a large influence on the energy consumption and thermal comfort of buildings.
However, using meteorological data which incorporates effects of climate change and characteristics of cities (e.g. vulnerability to the ‘urban heat island’ phenomenon) is not currently a standard practice in building simulation.
By default, typical meteorological years based on meteorological data of the past 20 years of nearby meteorological stations are used. These stations are normally located outside the city centres (e.g. at airports). From this follows that no climate change nor urban effects are taken into account in building simulation. This may lead to increased energy consumption - e.g. due to the need for additional cooling systems - and to high numbers of hours with temperatures above comfort level.
Within Climate-fit.city, these effects will be analysed with the help of a building simulation tool. In a first step, the adapted and standard (non-adapted) climate data will be used and the levels of energy consumption and comfort compared. In a second step, urban and future climate data, modelled with the UrbClim model by VITO, will be included within the Meteonorm software. This will enable the software to model the urban and climate change effects for any place within the cities of Bern and Vienna. In the future, this data will be included for other urban areas in Europe.
