Predicted changes in energy demands for heating and cooling due to climate change

Abstract

In the last 3 years in Slovenia we experienced extremely hot summers and demand for cooling the buildings have risen significantly. Since climate change scenarios predict higher temperatures for the whole country and for all seasons, we expect that energy demand for heating would decrease while demand for cooling would increase. An analysis for building with permitted energy demand and for low-energy demand building in two typical urban climates in Slovenia was performed. The transient systems simulation program (TRNSYS) was used for simulation of the indoor conditions and the energy use for heating and cooling. Climate change scenarios were presented in form of “future” Test Reference Years (TRY). The time series of hourly data for all meteorological variables for different scenarios were chosen from actual measurements, using the method of highest likelihood. The climate change scenarios predicted temperature rise (+1 °C and +3 °C) and solar radiation increase (+3% and +6%). With the selection of these scenarios we covered the spectra of possible predicted climate changes in Slovenia. The results show that energy use for heating would decrease from 16% to 25% (depends on the intensity of warming) in subalpine region, while in Mediterranean region the rate of change would not be significant. In summer time we would need up to six times more energy for cooling in subalpine region and approximately two times more in Mediterranean region. low-energy building proved to be very economical in wintertime while on average higher energy consumption for cooling is expected in those buildings in summertime. In case of significant warmer and more solar energy intensive climate, the good isolated buildings are more efficient than standard buildings. TRY proved not to be efficient for studying extreme conditions like installed power of the cooling system.