Abstract
The waste heat generated from the use of air conditioning systems in cities significantly contributes to the urban heat island effect (UHI) during the summer months. Thus, one of the key measures to mitigate this effect is to limit the use of active cooling systems. In the city of Vienna, air conditioning units are common in nonresidential buildings, but have so far been much less installed in residential buildings. This is mainly due to the fact that the Viennese summertime climate is still considered to be relatively comfortable and planning guidelines related to energy efficiency are already strict, resulting in high-quality buildings in regard to thermal performance. However, during the last decade, an increase in summertime temperatures and so called “tropical nights” has been recorded in Vienna and subsequently the postconstruction installation of air conditioning systems in residential buildings has significantly increased. In a study undertaken for the City of Vienna, a series of passive design measures have been simulated with current and future climate scenarios in order to determine the most effective combination of architecturally driven actions to avoid the use of air conditioning systems in residential buildings whilst maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures.
Highlights
The aim of the “Paris Agreement” [1] is to limit the global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions to well below 2 ◦ C compared to preindustrial times
Air conditioning systems further add to the urban heat island effect (UHI)
The urban heat island (UHI) effect impacts the thermal performance of buildings; in a study carried out by Oikonomou et al [11], the results show that the thermal quality of the dwelling has a far greater impact on indoor temperatures than the UHI
Summary
The aim of the “Paris Agreement” [1] is to limit the global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions to well below 2 ◦ C compared to preindustrial times. Summertime overheating is becoming an increasing challenge in this context as climatic conditions are changing and temperatures are steadily on the rise. Air conditioning systems further add to the urban heat island effect (UHI). As the waste heat generated by these systems increases local temperatures in tightly built-up areas. The mostly electrically powered air conditioning systems contribute to the use of fossil fuels as power generation only slowly shifts towards renewable energy systems. The topic of cooling becomes of increasing importance for the overall energy demand. In Europe, the cooling energy demand is steadily increasing. For 2020, cooling energy demand in the EU-15 was projected to be 115,000 GWh/a, more than 4.5 times higher than in 1990 [2]. In Austria, the electricity consumption for air conditioning
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