RT Journal Article
T1 Cooling degree models and future energy demand in the residential sector. A seven-country case study
A1 Castaño de la Rosa, Raúl
A1 Barrella, Roberto
A1 Sanchez Guevara, Carmen
A1 Barbosa, Ricardo
A1 Kyprianou, Ioanna
A1 Paschalidou, Eleftheria
A1 Thomaidis, Nikolaos S.
A1 Dokupilova, Dusana
A1 Gouveia, João Pedro
A1 Kadar, Jozsef
A1 Hamed, Tareq Abu
A1 Palma, Pedro
AB The intensity and duration of hot weather and the number of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, are increasing, leading to a growing need for space cooling energy demand. Together with the building stock’s low energy performance, this phenomenon may also increase households’ energy consumption. On the other hand, the low level of ownership of cooling equipment can cause low energy consumption, leading to a lack of indoor thermal comfort and several health-related problems, yet increasing the risk of energy poverty in summer. Understanding future temperature variations and the associated impacts on building cooling demand will allow mitigating future issues related to a warmer climate. In this respect, this paper analyses the effects of change in temperatures in the residential sector cooling demand in 2050 for a case study of nineteen cities across seven countries: Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Israel, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain, by estimating cooling degree days and hours (CDD and CDH). CDD and CDH are calculated using both fixed and adaptive thermal comfort temperature thresholds for 2020 and 2050, understanding their strengths and weaknesses to assess the effects of warmer temperatures. Results suggest a noticeable average increase in CDD and CDH values, up to double, by using both thresholds for 2050, with a particular interest in northern countries where structural modifications in the building stock and occupants’ behavior should be anticipated. Furthermore, the use of the adaptive thermal comfort threshold shows that the projected temperature increases for 2050 might affect people’s capability to adapt their comfort band (i.e., indoor habitability) as temperatures would be higher than the maximum admissible values for people’s comfort and health.
PB MDPI
SN 2071-1050
YR 2021
FD 2021-03-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/33378
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/33378
LA eng
NO This article belongs to the Special Issue Multidimensional Perspectives for Energy Poverty Sustainable Mitigation.
NO The paper stems from collaborative work within COST Action "European Energy Poverty: Agenda Co-Creation and Knowledge Innovation" (ENGAGER 2017-2021, CA16232) funded by European Cooperation in Science and Technology-www.cost.eu (5 December 2020). João Pedro Gouveia and Pedro Palma acknowledge and are thankful for the support provided to CENSE by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the strategic project UIDB/04085/2020 and through the scholarship SFRH/BD/146732/2019 provided to Pedro). Ricardo Barbosa acknowledges the support for this work, which was partly financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) under the R&D Unit Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), under reference UIDB/04029/2020.
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RD 1 sept. 2024