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On the impact of urban climate on the energy consuption of building

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 Solar Energy Vol. 70, No. 3, pp. 201–216, 2001
 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon PII: S 0 0 3 8 – 0 9 2 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 9 5 – 5 All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0038-092X / 01 / $ - see front matter
www.elsevier.com / locate / solener

ON THE IMPACT OF URBAN CLIMATE ON THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

OF BUILDINGS
M. SANTAMOURIS* , †, N. PAPANIKOLAOU*, I. LIVADA*, I. KORONAKIS*,
C. GEORGAKIS*, A. ARGIRIOU** and D. N. ASSIMAKOPOULOS* , **
*Group of Building Environmental Studies, Section of Applied Physics, Physics Department,
University of Athens, Building of Physics - 5, 157 84, University Campus, Athens, Greece
**National Observatory of Athens, Institute of Meteorology and Physics of the Atmospheric Environment,
Lofos Nimfon, Athens, Greece

Abstract—Climatic measurements from almost 30 urban and suburban stations as well as specific measure-
ments performed in 10 urban canyons in Athens, Greece, have been used to assess the impact of the urban
climate on the energy consumption of buildings. It is found that for the city of Athens, where the mean heat
island intensity exceeds 108C, the cooling load of urban buildings may be doubled, the peak electricity load for
cooling purposes may be tripled especially for higher set point temperatures, while the minimum COP value of
air conditioners may be decreased up to 25% because of the higher ambient temperatures. During the winter
period, the heating load of centrally located urban buildings is found to be reduced up to 30%. Regarding the
potential of natural ventilation techniques when applied to buildings located in urban canyons, it is found that,
mainly during the day, this is seriously reduced because of the important decrease of the wind speed inside the
canyon. Air flow reduction may be up to 10 times the flow that corresponds to undisturbed ambient wind
conditions.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. INTRODUCTION Almost similar situations are found in Europe.

It is reported that during the 1970s, urban tertiary
Cities are increasingly expanding their boundaries
buildings in Greece represented about 14% of
and populations and as stated ‘from the clima-
these buildings in the country. Due to the
tological point of view, human history is defined
dramatic urbanization, the corresponding percent-
as the history of urbanization’. Increased indus-
age of new urban tertiary constructions increased
trialization and urbanization in recent years have
up to 55% during the 1980s.
affected dramatically the number of urban build-
The situation will be even more dramatic in
ings with major effects on the energy consump-
developing countries. Already, 23 of the 34 cities
tion of this sector. It is expected that 700 million
with more than 5 million inhabitants are in
people will move to urban areas during the last
developing countries. Current projections estimate
decade of this century. The number of urban
that 11 of those cities will have populations of
dwellers has risen from 600 million in 1920 to 2
between 20 and 30 million by the year 2000.
billion in 1986 and if this growth continues, more
It is clear that urban areas without a high
than one-half of the world’s population will live
climatic quality use more energy for air con-
in cities by the end of this century. One hundred
ditioning in summer and even more electricity for
years ago, only 14% lived in cities and in 1950,
lighting. Moreover, discomfort and inconvenience
less than 30% of the world population was urban.
to the urban population due to high temperatures,
Today, at least 170 cities support more than one
wind tunnel effects in streets and unusual wind
million inhabitants each. As estimated, in the
turbulence due to wrongly designed high rise
United States, 90% of the population is expected
buildings is very common (Bitan, 1992).
to be living in, or around, urban areas by the year
Data on the energy and specific electricity
2000. Estimations show that urban populations
consumption of major European cities are given
will occupy 80% of the total world population in
by Eurostat, 1995. Data on the electricity consump-
2100.
tion in European cities range from 60 GWh / year
for Valetta to 26,452 GWh / year for London.
According to the same data, the average electrici-
†
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: ty consumption calculated on the basis of avail-
1 30-1-727-6934; fax: 1 30-1-729-5282; e-mail: able data for cities with more than 1,000,000
msantam@atlas.uoa.gr inhabitants is around 4500 GWh per year. How-

201
202 M. Santamouris et al.
ever, these data cannot be used to draw any
conclusions.
Other, statistical data (Stanners and Bourdeau,
1995) show that the amount of energy consumed
by cities for heating and cooling of offices and
residential buildings in western and southern
Europe has increased significantly in the last two
decades. A recent analysis, (Jones, 1992), showed
that a 1% increase in the per capita GNP leads to
an almost equal (1.03), increase in energy con-
sumption. However, as reported, an increase of
the urban population by 1% increases the energy
consumption by 2.2%, i.e. the rate of change in
energy use is twice the rate of change in urbaniza-
tion. These data show clearly the impact that
urbanization may have on energy use.
Thus, it becomes increasingly important to
study urban climatic environments and to apply
this knowledge to improve people’s environment
and decrease the energy consumption in cities.
The present paper presents the results of an
urban study carried out in Athens aiming, among
other things, to investigate the impact of the urban
climate on the energy consumption of urban
buildings. An extended network of measuring
stations has been installed and climatic data
collected for a 3-year period. Specific air flow and
temperature distribution experiments have been
also carried out in 10 urban canyons. The data
have been used to evaluate the impact of in-
creased ambient temperatures on the heating and
cooling performance of buildings. Also, air flow
and temperature distribution data in urban
canyons have been used to evaluate the impact of
canyon geometry and characteristics on the po-
tential of natural ventilation techniques to provide
passive cooling to urban buildings.
2. URBAN CLIMATE AND ENERGY
CONSUMPTION OF BUILDINGS
A very comprehensive description of the urban
climate is presented by Landsberg (1981). It is
important to describe the mean features by which
the urban climate differs from the climatic con-
ditions of the surrounding rural areas.
According to Oke (1977), the air space above a
city can be divided into the so-called urban air
‘canopy’, and the boundary layer over the city
space called ‘the urban air dome’. The urban air
canopy is the space bounded by the urban build-
ings up to their roofs. The specific climatic
conditions at any given point within the canopy
are determined by the nature of the immediate
surroundings and in particular of the geometry,
the materials and their properties. The upper
boundary of the urban canopy varies from one
spot to another because of the variable heights of
the buildings and the wind speed.
The air dome layer is defined by Oke (1976),
as ‘that portion of the planetary boundary layer
whose characteristics are affected by the presence
of an urban area at its lower boundary’ and is
more homogeneous in its properties over the
urban area at large.
Temperature distribution in urban areas is
highly affected by the urban radiation balance.
Solar radiation incident on the urban surfaces is
absorbed and then transformed to sensible heat.
Most of the solar radiation impinges on roofs, and
the vertical walls of the buildings, and only a
relatively small part reaches the ground level.
Walls, roofs and the ground emit long wave
radiation to the sky. The intensity of the emitted
radiation depends on the view factor of the
surface regarding the sky. Under urban conditions
most of the sky dome viewed by walls and
surfaces is blocked by other buildings, and thus
the long wave radiant exchange does not really
result in significant losses.
The net balance between the solar gains and the
heat loss by emitted long wave radiation de-
termines the thermal balance of urban areas.
Because the radiant heat loss is slower in urban
areas the net balance is more positive than in the
surrounding rural areas and thus higher tempera-
tures are presented.
Air temperatures in densely built urban areas
are higher than the temperatures of the surround-
ing rural country. The phenomenon known as
‘heat island’, is due to many factors the more
important of which are summarized by Oke et al.
(1991).
• Canyon Radiative Geometry contributes to
decrease the long wave radiation loss from
within street canyon due to the complex ex-
change between buildings and the screening of
the skyline.
• Thermal properties of materials that may in-
crease storage of sensible heat in the fabric of
the city.
• Anthropogenic heat released from combustion
of fuels and animal metabolism.
• Urban greenhouse, that contributes to increase
the incoming long wave radiation from the
polluted and warmer urban atmosphere.
• Canyon radiative geometry decreasing the
effective albedo of the system because of the
multiple reflection of short wave radiation
between the canyon surfaces.
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings
• Reduction of evaporating surfaces in the city
putting more energy into sensible and less into
latent heat.
• Reduced turbulent transfer of heat from within
streets.
The heat island phenomenon may occur during
the day or the night period. The intensity of the
heat island is mainly determined by the thermal
balance of the urban region and can result in up to
10 degrees of temperature difference.
Higher urban temperatures have a serious im-
pact on the electricity demand for air conditioning
of buildings, increase smog production, while
contributing to increased emission of pollutants
from power plants, including sulfur dioxide,
carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and suspended
particulates.
Unfortunately, very few studies have been
carried out on the impact of the urban climate to
the energy consumption of urban buildings for
heating and cooling purposes. Existing studies
either correlate increased urban temperatures and
the corresponding electricity demand for selected
utility districts or either use sets of local tempera-
ture data to calculate the breakdown of the
cooling and heating load in a city suffering from
increased temperatures.
Both methodologies and techniques present
important advantages. When correlations between
temperatures and energy use are established by
comparing utility-wide electricity loads to tem-
peratures at the same time of the day, a very clear
picture on the real impact of high urban tempera-
tures is established. However, to achieve it, it is
necessary to minimize the non-climate-related
effects on the electricity demand, which is not
always possible, and when possible is not always
accurate. This technique, although giving an
estimation of the increase of the energy consump-
tion in an integrated way, does not permit to
investigate local effects and the impact of the
specific urban layout and characteristics to the
energy consumption of the buildings.
When temporally extended data of the tempera-
ture breakdown in a city are used to calculate
either the energy load of a reference building
located in a city, or the distribution of the energy
consumption in a city, very useful information on
the relative energy consumption of the various
urban sub-regions having different layout and
climatic characteristics is established. However,
the overall impact of the high urban temperatures
on the global energy consumption of the city is
not possible or it is very difficult to evaluate. It is
obvious that a combination of both techniques
203
may offer a more complete view of the impact of
urban temperatures on the energy load of build-
ings.
Various studies correlating urban heat island
and energy consumption have been carried out in
the United States. As reported, (Akbari et al.,
1992), for US cities with population larger than
100,000 the peak electricity load will increase 1.5
to 2% for every 18F increase in temperature.
Taking into account that urban temperatures
during summer afternoons in the US have in-
creased by 2 to 48F during the last 40 years, it can
be assumed that 3 to 8% of the current urban
electricity demand is used to compensate for the
heat island effect alone.
Comparisons of high ambient temperatures to
utility loads for the Los Angeles area have shown
that an important correlation exists. It is found
that the net rate of increase of the electricity
demand is almost 300 MW per 8F. Taking into
account that there is a 8F increase of the peak
temperature in Los Angeles since 1940, this is trans-
lated into an added electricity demand of 1.5 GW
due to heat island effect.
Similar correlation between temperatures and
electricity demand have been established for
selected utility districts in the USA. The rate of
increase of the electricity demand in MW/ 8F, as
well as the increase of the electricity demand, in
percentage, for each utility, has been calculated
for selected cities (Akbari et al., 1992). Based on
the above increase rates, it has been calculated
that for the USA the electricity costs for summer
heat island alone could be as much as $1 million
per hour, or over $1 billion per year (Akbari et
al., 1992). Computer studies have shown for the
whole country the possible increase of the peak
cooling electricity load due to heat island effect
could range from 0.5 to 3% for each 18F rise in
temperature.
Heat island studies in Singapore reported by
Tso (1994), show a possible increase of the urban
temperature close to 18C. According to the reports
if there were to be similar changes in tempera-
tures 50 years from now, the anticipated increase
in building energy consumption, mainly in air
conditioning, is of the order of 33 GWh per
annum for the whole island.
Watanabe et al. (1990 / 91), using LANDSAT-5
data have analyzed the land temperature distribu-
tion and the thermal environment of the Tokyo
metropolitan area for some days of September
1973. Based on these data as well as the results of
a field survey by the metropolitan government,
energy consumption distribution maps have been
204 M. Santamouris et al.
prepared. Although no further information is
provided the overall analysis shows clearly that
much higher energy consumptions are calculated
for the central Tokyo area.
Other studies on the Tokyo area reported by
Ojima (1990 / 91), show clearly that during the 10
years from 1965 to 1975, due to the heat island
phenomenon, the cooling load of existing build-
ings has increased by 10–20% on average. If it
continues to increase at the same rate, it will make
more than a 50% increment in 2000.
3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
In the frame of the urban climate experiment
carried out in Athens, 20 automatic temperature
and humidity stations have been installed in the
major Athens area during spring 1996. At a later
phase the number of stations has been increased
to 30. The instrumentation used was selected to
satisfy several criteria like acceptable cost, in
order to cover as many locations as possible,
satisfactory performance according to the interna-
tional meteorological standards, low maintenance,
Fig. 1. Relative position of the measuring stations.
internal power supply and high data storage
capacity. In order to protect the instruments from
solar radiation and rain, white wooden boxes with
lateral slots were constructed, approximating the
Stevenson screen. The detailed and specific
characteristics of the sensors used are given in
Santamouris et al. (1996).
As the study had to cover the Athens basin,
measurement points were selected with the fol-
lowing criteria:
(a) to get information about the boundary
conditions around the basin,
(b) to study densely built areas with heavy
traffic,
(c) to study densely built areas with less traffic,
(d) to study the conditions in green areas of the
city center,
(e) to study medium density built areas.
Therefore an attempt was made to select areas
according to these criteria, that additionally are
located on the north–south and east–west axes of
the city. A detailed map showing the relative
position of the stations is given in Fig. 1. In
general, seven stations have been placed in the
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings
very central area of Athens, 26 stations are placed
in urban areas and in a radial configuration around
Athens while one station is placed in an almost
rural region out of the city in order to be used as
the reference station.
Measurements are taken on a minute basis
while all sensors are calibrated between them and
against high precision sensors.
In order to investigate the specific air flow and
thermal phenomena in an urban canyon, experi-
ments were performed during summer 1997 in 10
different canyons having dissimilar layouts,
orientation, anthropogenic heat and vegetation.
Three types of measurements were performed.
(a) Air temperature measurements. Miniature
ambient air temperature sensors have been
used. The sensors were shielded inside a white
painted wooden cylinder opened on two parts
to permit air circulation. The length of the
cylinders was 20 cm while their internal and
external diameter was 9 and 8 cm, respective-
ly. Sensors were completely protected from
solar radiation. The cylindrical wooden boxes
including the sensors have been fixed in the
exterior facades of the buildings and in various
heights in the canyon. The distance between
the cylindrical box and the exterior wall was
between 5 cm and 2 m, thus the temperature
sensors were between 12 and 205 cm from the
walls. Measurements were performed every 15
min.
(b) Surface temperature measurements. An
infrared thermometer equipped with a laser
beam has been used. The surface temperature
of the exterior facades of the buildings are
measured. Measurements are performed from
the bottom to the top of both facades of the
canyon using a step of 3–3.5 m. All measure-
ments have been performed from the street
level. The pavement and road temperature
were measured as well at five different points
along the width of the canyon in both sections
defined above. All measurements have been
performed on an hourly basis during day and
night.
(c) Wind speed measurements. A three-axis
anemometer has been used to measure the
three components of the wind speed inside the
canyon. The anemometer was mounted on the
exterior facade of a building in the canyon at a
distance of 1–2 m from the wall and 25 m
from the intersection of the canyon with a
perpendicular road. A cup anemometer has
been also placed on the top of the canyon at a
distance of 6 m from its top level to measure
205
the wind speed and direction out of the
canyon. Measurements have been performed
every 12 s.
4. TEMPERATURE AND DEGREE DAYS
DISTRIBUTION
The collected data have been analyzed in detail
in order to assess the heat island intensity in the
city of Athens as well as the specific distribution
of the ambient temperature in the city. Specific
and detailed statistical and climatological analyses
have been performed, however, presentation of
this analysis is out of the scope of the present
paper.
During the summer period much higher tem-
peratures have been recorded in the central
Athens area especially during the daytime. Fig. 2
plots the relative temperature difference between
12 urban stations located in and around the center
as a function of the temperature of the urban
station. Plotted data refer to the summer of 1996.
As shown, temperature increase in the very
central area may reach values up to 158C. Daily
heat island intensity for most of the central urban
stations is close to 108C. Heat island intensity is
much lower in suburban areas and ranges between
6 and 28C. During the night period, heat island
intensity, Fig. 3, varies between 2 and 58C as a
function of the station characteristics. Urban green
areas present 2–38C lower than the reference
station.
Cooling degree hours determine to a high
degree the cooling load of buildings (Santamouris
and Assimakopoulos, 1996), thus knowledge of
their spatial and temporal distribution as well as
of their absolute value in a city is of high interest
for designers and climatologists. The spatial dis-
tribution of the cooling degree hours for 13:00 h
and for the whole of August 1996 are given in
Fig. 4. Cooling degree hours have been calculated
for a temperature base of 268C. As shown, during
noon hours, the center of the city presents almost
two times higher cooling degree hours than the
city surroundings. In particular, in the central
Athens area cooling degree hours are close to 385,
while the corresponding value for the reference
suburban areas is close to 132.
A very interesting spatial distribution of cool-
ing degree hours has been calculated for the night
period. Fig. 5 shows this distribution for 1:00 h
during the whole of August 1996. As shown,
higher cooling degree hours have been calculated
in the Western Athens area than in the central one.
In particular while cooling degree hours in the
206 M. Santamouris et al.

Fig. 2. Temperature difference between urban stations and the reference one as a function of the absolute temperature of the
urban station during summer days.

Fig. 3. Temperature difference between urban stations and the reference one as a function of the absolute temperature of the
urban station during summer nights.
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings
Fig. 4. Iso-cooling degree hour lines for 268C temperature base, at 13:00 h, for August 1996.
reference area are close to 26, the corresponding
values for the western and central Athens area are
close to 104 and 85, respectively. This is mainly
due to the high density of western Athens as well
as the lack of green spaces and other cool sinks.
The daily spatial distribution of cooling degree
hours in a day in Athens, (August 1996), is given
in Fig. 6. As shown, the central Athens area starts
to be heated at about 10:00 h, gets the maximum
difference compared to the surrounding area at
about 14:00 to 15:00 h, while the phenomenon is
amortized at about 19:00 h.
During the winter period, the intensity of heat
island in the central area is not significantly
reduced compared to the summer period. During
the day period, Fig. 7, heat mean island intensity
in the central Athens area is close to 108C, while
it is reduced to 3–68C in the surrounding subur-
ban areas. During the night period, Fig. 8, heat
island intensity is up to 108C, and varies as a
function of the characteristics of the area.
Heating degree hours determine to a high
degree the heating load of a building. An indica-
tive spatial distribution for December 1997, base
18.38C, is given in Fig. 9. As shown, heating
207
degree hours in the central Athens area are about
3000–4000 while in the surrounding areas can be
high as 5000 which correspond to a decrease of
about 40%.
5. CALCULATION METHODOLOGY
The collected data have been used to calculate
the distribution of the cooling and heating needs
of a representative office building for all locations
where climatic data were available.
The considered building is constructed in seven
different levels, and has a total surface of 500 m 2 .
It is used by 25 people and is a low energy
building involving many energy conservation
features to decrease its heating and cooling needs,
Fig. 10. A full description of the building is given
in Allard (1998). The building was monitored for
about 2 years while specific experiments involv-
ing tracer gas injections were carried out. To
study the performance of the building and to
analyze in detail the obtained experimental data, a
theoretical model of the building has been created
in TRNSYS (Solar Energy Laboratory, 1997)
simulation tool. Comparison of experimental with
208 M. Santamouris et al.

Fig. 5. Iso-cooling degree hour lines for 268C temperature base, at 1:00 h, for August 1996.

Fig. 6. Spatial and hourly distribution of the cooling degree hours in Athens for August 1996.
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings
Fig. 7. Temperature difference between urban stations and the reference one as a function of the absolute temperature of the
urban station during winter days.
the calculated performance of the building show
an excellent agreement between the two sets of
data (Geros et al., 1998).
Using hourly data of the ambient temperature
collected at all urban climate stations, simulations
of the cooling and heating load of the reference
building have been performed for the whole
period. The same solar radiation data have been
used for all considered stations as a non-signifi-
cant spatial variation of solar radiation has been
observed in Athens (Psioglou, 1997). All other
operational data, like internal gains, have been
selected to correspond exactly to the measured
conditions. Thus, the spatial distribution of the
heating and cooling load of the reference building
has been calculated.
6. IMPACT ON THE SUMMER
PERFORMANCE OF URBAN BUILDINGS
The calculated spatial variation of the cooling
load of the reference building for a set point of
278C and for August 1996 is given in Fig. 11.
Values are in kWh per square metre and month.
Very local phenomena and conditions are not
shown in the maps unless a measuring station was
209
placed locally. Fig. 11 gives the iso-cooling load
lines, (in kWh per square metre and month),
indicating the spatial variation of the cooling load
for the whole region of Athens. As shown, the
cooling load at the center is about double that in
the surrounding Athens region. The maximum
cooling load always corresponds to the very
central area of Athens and especially to a station
very close to a high traffic road. Minimum values
were calculated in the south east Athens region, a
mean density residential area close to the
Hemetus forest. Much higher cooling loads have
been calculated for the Western Athens region.
This area is characterized by high density plots,
lack of green spaces, important industrial activity
and higher traffic than the Eastern Athens region.
Apart from increased energy loads for cooling
of buildings, high ambient temperatures increase
peak electricity loads and put a serious stress on
the local utilities. Thus, knowledge of the possible
increase of the peak electricity load due to higher
urban ambient temperatures may be very im-
portant
Using TRNSYS, the instant peak cooling load
of the reference building has been calculated for
August 1996 and for various set point tempera-
210 M. Santamouris et al.

Fig. 8. Temperature difference between urban stations and the reference one as a function of the absolute temperature of the
urban station during winter nights.

Fig. 9. Spatial distribution of the heating degree days in Athens for December 1997.
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings 211

Fig. 10. Plan of the reference building.

tures ranging between 26 and 288C. The obtained
spatial variation of the peak cooling load for the
whole Athens region, and for a set point of 268C
is given in Fig. 12. Values are in kW. It should be
noticed that the reported peak cooling loads refer
to the whole month and do not occur during the
same time in all stations. As expected, much
higher peak cooling loads have been calculated
for the central Athens area. For a set point
temperature equal to 268C, the highest peak load
of the reference building is calculated close to
27.5 kW while the minimum one is close to 13.7 kW.
Thus, the impact of higher urban temperatures is
extremely important and almost doubles the peak
cooling load of the reference building.
When the set point temperature is 288C, much
higher differences have been found. In this case
the maximum cooling load is close to 23.5 kW
while the minimum one is close to 7.3 kW. Thus,
while the maximum peak cooling load is reduced
to about 4.3 kW, the minimum peak load is
reduced by 6.4 kW. The results show that for the

Fig. 11. Distribution of the cooling load in the city of Athens for a set point temperature of 278C and for August 1996. Values are
in kWh / m 2 .
212 M. Santamouris et al.
Fig. 12. Spatial variation of the peak cooling load of a reference building in Athens during August 1996 and 268C set point
temperature. Values are in kW.
central Athens area the peak cooling load is
mainly due to persisting very high ambient tem-
peratures and is not sensitive to the change of the
set point temperature. On the contrary, the calcu-
lated minimum peak cooling load changes
dramatically as the set point temperature in-
creases. This is mainly due to the minimization of
the load induced by the indoor–outdoor tempera-
ture differences as the set point increases. In this
case the calculated peak cooling load is mainly
due to solar radiation and the other sources.
High ambient temperatures have a very serious
impact on the efficiency of conventional air
conditioners. The coefficient of performance
(COP) is directly affected by relative humidity
and ambient temperature, and thus it is of interest
to investigate a possible decrease of the COP due
to heat island effect.
Using hourly temperature and humidity data
from all stations in and around Athens, for the
whole summer 1996, the distribution of the COP
value of a conventional A / C system has been
calculated. The minimum value for each station
has been calculated. Fig. 13 gives the spatial
distribution of the minimum COP values in
Athens. As shown, the absolute minimum COP
values correspond to the very central area of
Athens (close to 75%), because of the high
ambient temperatures as well as for the coastal
area because of the high humidity. The highest of
the minimum COP value is calculated close to
102% for the South East area of Athens. Results
show clearly that except for high cooling loads
and peak electricity problems, the heat island
effect reduces significantly (to about 25%) the
efficiency of the air conditioning systems and thus
may oblige designers to increase the size of the
installed A / C systems and thus intensify peak
electricity problems and energy consumption for
cooling purposes.
7. IMPACT ON THE WINTER PERFORMANCE
OF URBAN BUILDINGS
Increased urban temperatures may have a seri-
ous impact on the heating load of urban buildings.
Calculations of the heating load of the same
reference building have been performed for all
stations and the whole monitoring period. All
stations have been grouped in three cluster sta-
tions located in the very central Athens area,
suburban stations and urban parks and green
areas. The corresponding heating load for each
station is given in Fig. 14. The heating load in the
central Athens region was estimated close to
3.7 kWh / m 2 / month, while the corresponding
load of the suburban stations was close to
5.1 kWh / m 2 / month, and the mean load of the
stations located in green areas was close to 7.3
kWh / m 2 / month.
As shown, increased urban temperatures de-
crease the heating load of urban temperatures to
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings 213

Fig. 13. Spatial distribution of the minimum COP of a conventional air conditioner in Athens (values in percentage).

Fig. 14. Heating load of the reference office building calculated using data from various urban and suburban stations as well as
from stations located in urban areas. Values are in kWh / m 2 .
214 M. Santamouris et al.
about 30% while the maximum difference be-
tween suburban and urban stations was close to
55%.
8. IMPACT ON THE NATURAL VENTILATION
POTENTIAL
Natural ventilation of buildings located in
urban canyons is seriously reduced because of the
important decrease of the wind velocity inside the
canyons. Air flow phenomena associated with
urban canyons are extensively discussed in San-
tamouris (1999). Experiments in 10 deep canyons
during the summer 1997, have shown that mean
wind speed inside the canyon rarely exceeds
1 m / s, independent of the free wind speed above
the buildings. Fig. 15 shows, as an example, the
variation of the air speed inside and outside a
canyon having an aspect ratio close to one during
the whole experimental period.
Natural ventilation of buildings is due either to
the wind forces or to the temperature difference
between the indoor and outdoor environment or in
a combination of both. Design of urban buildings
to improve natural ventilation potential should
consider the appropriate wind data and not routine
meteorological observations collected in open
fields. Also, the specific temperature regime in a
canyon should be considered.
In order to evaluate the natural ventilation
potential of urban buildings, as well as its possible
decrease because of the canyon related phenom-
ena, simulations of the air flow processes have
been carried out for 10 different canyons where
wind speed and temperature data have been
collected. Two configurations have been consid-
ered: single as well as a cross ventilation configu-
ration. A typical zone of 36 m 2 , and 144 m 3
Fig. 15. Measured wind speed inside and outside a representative urban canyon.
having a window of 1.5 3 1.5 m, in each canyon
facade is also considered.
Two types of simulations have been performed
for each configuration. The first was based on the
wind and temperature data measured inside the
canyon, while the second one was based on the
undisturbed temperature and wind speed mea-
sured over the buildings. Comparison of both
simulation results should permit to assess the
decrease of the natural ventilation potential in
urban canyons.
Simulations have been performed using the
AIOLOS natural ventilation simulation code (Al-
lard, 1998). The software used is well validated in
the frame of the PASCOOL research project
against a high number of experiments (Limam et
al., 1997).
Figs. 16 and 17 give the air flow rate for the 10
canyons, and for the single side and cross ventila-
tion configuration, respectively. The two flow
rates, one when the ambient temperature and wind
speed is used, and the second corresponding to the
inside canyon measured data, are given. An
analysis of the results permits the following
conclusions to be extracted.
(a) During the day, when the ambient wind
speed is considerably higher than wind speed
inside the canyon and inertia phenomena domi-
nate the gravitational forces, the natural venti-
lation potential in single and cross ventilation
configurations is seriously decreased inside the
canyon. In practice this happens when the
ambient wind speed is higher than 4 m / s. For
single side ventilation configurations the air
flow is reduced up to five times, while in cross
ventilation configurations the flow is some-
times reduced up to 10 times.
(b) During the day time and when the ambient
 On the impact of urban climate on the energy consumption of buildings 215

Fig. 16. Air flow rates calculated for 10 different canyons and for single side building configurations.

Fig. 17. Air flow calculated for 10 different canyons and for cross ventilation configurations.
 216 M. Santamouris et al.
wind speed is lower than 3–4 m / s, gravitation-
al forces dominate the air flow processes. In
this case the difference in wind speed inside
and outside the canyon, do not play any
important role and especially in single side
configurations.
(c) During the night time the ambient wind
speed is seriously decreased and is comparable
to the wind speed inside the canyon. In this
case the air flow calculated for inside and
outside the canyon is almost the same.
(d) The calculated reduction of the air flow
inside the canyon is mainly a function of the
wind direction inside the canyon. When the
ambient flow is almost vertical to the canyon
axis, the flow inside the canyon is almost
vertical and parallel to the window. In this case
a much higher pressure coefficient corresponds
to the conditions outside the canyon, and thus
a much higher flow is calculated when the
ambient conditions are considered and inertia
forces are dominating. When the ambient flow
is parallel to the canyon axis, a similar flow is
observed inside the canyon; thus the pressure
coefficients are almost similar.
9. CONCLUSIONS
The present paper discusses the energy impact
of higher ambient temperatures in the city centers.
Data from the Athens urban climate have been
used to evaluate the increase of the cooling load
of urban buildings. It is found that for a repre-
sentative building, the cooling load almost dou-
bled in the central Athens area, while peak
electricity load may be tripled for higher set point
temperatures. In parallel, the minimum COP value
of the air conditioners in the central Athens area
is reduced by up to 25%.
Higher temperatures in the city centers affect
the heating load of urban buildings as well.
Calculations based on urban climatic data have
shown that the heating load of urban buildings
may be reduced up to 30–50% compared to
buildings located in suburban areas.
Finally, an assessment of the potential of
natural ventilation in urban areas and in particular
in urban canyons are presented. Calculations are
based on air flow and temperature measurements
taken in 10 different canyons in Athens. A very
serious reduction of the natural ventilation po-
tential inside canyons is calculated especially
during the day time. Compared to the air flow
rates when undisturbed ambient meteorological
data are used, air flow rates inside canyons may
be reduced up to 10 times.
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Acknowledgements—The present research is partly financed
by the European Commission, Directorate General for Science,
Research and Technology under the contract JOR3-CT95-
0024. The contribution of the Commission is gratefully
acknowledged.
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