Assessing the Performance Gap of Climate Change on Buildings Design Analytical Stages Using Future Weather Projections

Alhindawi, Ibrahim; Jimenez-Bescos, Carlos

Abstract

With the higher pace of climate change, temperatures are rising each year, resulting in various effects on the thermal status of buildings. This paper takes the opportunity of analysing different scenarios of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using hourly weather data of future projections by implementing EPW weather files on EnergyPlus software dynamic simulations, coupled with architectural science methods of climate analysis, to test the effect of high and medium-high emission scenarios for the 2050s and 2080s future timelines on thermal comfort range, passive zones potential, and heating/cooling periods, as compared to the weather data from 2003-2017. Simulations results have shown a remarkable effect on the scale of daily cooling hours and monthly coverage under the high GHG emission scenario, expanding its range by 60 %, with 6 hours on summer peak days and 3 months/year, as well as an annual decrease in heating period by 33.3 %. Thermal comfort zones of tested periods have also witnessed an alternation, translating the effect on the passive cooling and passive heating zones' way of variating, where the ranges are pushed towards their potential limits. Results have also demonstrated that if future weather data is not included in simulations, a weather-related performance gap is generated.

Citation

Alhindawi, I., & Jimenez-Bescos, C. (2020). Assessing the Performance Gap of Climate Change on Buildings Design Analytical Stages Using Future Weather Projections. Scientific Journal of Riga Technical University. Environmental and Climate Technologies, 24(3), 119-134. https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2020-0091

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 14, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 18, 2020
• Journal: Environmental and Climate Technologies
• Electronic ISSN: 2255-8837
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 119-134
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2020-0091
• Keywords: Cooling-heating period; future weather; psychrometry; thermal comfort
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5156780
• Publisher URL: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/rtuect/24/3/article-p119.xml