Name: Layra Ramos Lugão
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 30/08/2021
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Cristina Engel de Alvarez | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Cristina Engel de Alvarez | Advisor * |
| Edna Aparecida Nico Rodrigues | Internal Examiner * |
| Luciana Aparecida Netto de Jesus | External Examiner * |
Summary: The quicken urbanization process set up the current panorama of cities, making them
vulnerable to climatic particularities. The urban heat island indicates high temperatures
in these regions, which could worsen due to global climate change projections.
Buildings are located predominantly in urban areas and a set of local climatic effects
are interacting under their energy conditions. In this regard, recent studies point to the
increase in energy demand for cooling, especially in residential ambiance. This
consumption generates heat release in cities, confirming the interrelationship between
building and urban parameters. The trend towards integrated analysis has encouraged
the urban scale approach, such as the energy modelling of urban buildings. Thus, the
main goal of this thesis was to analyse the influence of the urban context on energy
consumption of residential buildings cooling systems compare to the heat island
phenomena and climate change, aiming to establish propositions tuned to energy
efficiency of a built environment. The adopted methodology was based on simulations
of generic urban models, composed by different urban indexes combinations,
consistent with the intraurban forms of the city of Vitória (ES). In order to optimize the
simulation process, the main tool applied was Grasshopper, in which urban scenarios
were assembled based on urban indexes, which also were assigned for the main
building analysed. After the broad configuration accomplished, the weather file was
designed for the 2050s and 2080s using Climate Change World Weather File
Generator tool and modified later as the urban heat island effect was taken through
the Urban Weather Generator component. The results demonstrated variation in the
influence of the urban context elements on the residential building performance,
highlighting up to 23.40% increase in the energy consumption of cooling per
conditioned area caused by weather event. Furthermore, it was observed the
significant reduction provided by surroundings shading, the importance of efficient
envelope and the association between adequate external parameters to ease
downside effects on the building. Therefore, the urban context embodiment with
climate changes in the energy performance simulations can provide more accurate
data for the elaboration of coherent strategies at the local scale.
