Effect of Different Landscapes on Heat Load to Buildings

Ahmed Kanaan,Bernd Leinauer,Elena Sevostianova,Igor Sevostianov,Matteo Serena,Burl Donaldson

doi:10.3390/land10070733

Ahmed Kanaan, Bernd Leinauer + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070733

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Abstract

Strategies to conserve water have been implemented by many municipalities in the US Southwest to minimize quantities of water used for irrigating urban landscapes. Some of them encourage and even enforce homeowners to remove the turfgrass to reduce the irrigation water demands. This strategy not only ignores the numerous benefits derived from the turfgrasses but also fails to recognize the energy savings for the buildings surrounded by green landscapes. Quantitative analysis of the effect and importance of different types of landscapes on urban heat load and the subsequent energy consumption inside those buildings is of great practical need. Field experiments were conducted at New Mexico State University to assess the effect of different landscapes on heat transfer and ambient air and surface temperatures from June 2017 to October 2018. Two standard wood frame walls covered with stucco and surrounded by either Kentucky bluegrass or by hardscape were set up and equipped with sensors, measuring wall and air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and the solar and far infrared radiation balance. Our results show that overall heat load from the xeric landscape is noticeably higher than the one from the grass landscape. Based on these data, we assessed the potential for energy savings by utilizing turfgrass landscaping.

Highlights

In this paper, we quantify the effect of landscaping on the temperature and heat exchange with the external building walls
The goal of this study was to evaluate the hypotheses that there is a noticeable difference in total heat flux on the walls of buildings surrounded by turfgrass and xeric landscapes
We show that grass landscaping can reduce the amount of total heat exchange with urban structures by more than 50% during the daytime in the hot season. These results are especially important in the context of the existing strategies in the US Southwest to minimize quantities of water used for irrigating urban landscapes [1] that do not account for the effects produced by turfgrass on heat loading on buildings [2]

Summary

Introduction

We quantify the effect of landscaping on the temperature and heat exchange with the external building walls. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous quantitative evaluations of the effect of landscape on the heat transfer to urban structures This quantity is of key importance since it determines the energy consumption for cooling buildings in hot climate zones. We show that grass landscaping can reduce the amount of total heat exchange with urban structures by more than 50% during the daytime in the hot season These results are especially important in the context of the existing strategies in the US Southwest to minimize quantities of water used for irrigating urban landscapes [1] that do not account for the effects produced by turfgrass on heat loading on buildings [2]

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