Assessment of heating degree-days factor (HDDF) for building-oriented climate zoning in Türkiye

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, a novel heating degree-days factor (HDDF) is proposed to determine the optimum facade design for buildings in Türkiye as a function of both cooling degree-days (CDD) and heating degree-days (HDD) data. For this purpose, the HDDF (HDD/(HDD+CDD)) is defined as the ratio of the heating degree-days of a region to the total heating and cooling degree-days. Firstly, the HDDF values of all provinces in Türkiye are calculated by using meteorological data from 81 meteorological stations covering the period 1991–2022, and HDDF performance is evaluated. Then, the building-oriented climate zoning is realized based on the HDDF values. Moreover, historical trends of monthly and yearly average HDD, CDD, and HDDF values are revealed and yearly HDD, CDD, and HDDF maps were created using the ArcGIS program. According to the results, HDDF values in Türkiye varied between 0.4519 and 0.9998, and HDDF values between 0.9 ≤ HDDF ≤ 1 cover 46 out of 81 cities in the country and span a broad area across the country. The findings suggest that if global warming continues at the current rate, cooling energy demand in the residential sector will dramatically increase in the future, while heating energy demand will fall in Türkiye. This indicates that domestic energy consumption regulations would require modification. The building-oriented climate zoning resulting from this study is unique to Türkiye and can aid engineers, architects, and policymakers in building energy efficiency programs, studies, regulations, and standards.