A method to quantify the energy performance in urban quarters

This study aims to derive an estimating method for the energy performance of urban quarters. To quantify the energy performance of city quarters, the influence of the surrounding urban form must be considered, for instance, the street distance, height of the neighboring buildings, or urban site coverage. In this work, the lighting, heating, and cooling performance of urban districts with different urban forms was simulated in detail using software tools such as EnergyPlus, Radiance, and Daysim. Interrelations between those effects are analyzed with respect to thermal and visual comfort condition. Electric lighting consumption is calculated first, and the thermal effect of artificial lighting is set as an input to the heating and cooling performance calculation. The analyses show that the site thermal performance depends on the arrangement of the urban geometry according to solar gains, and there is a correlation between energy savings and efficient urban design. The simulation results are validated with measured data from a case study in Stuttgart, Germany.

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