Relating three-decade surge in space cooling demand to urban warming
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545281 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Haiwei Li (0000-0002-6004-4801, University of Cambridge), Yongling Zhao (0000-0003-3492-0844, ETH Zurich, corresponding author), Ronita Bardhan (0000-0001-5336-4084, University of Cambridge), Pak Wai Chan (0000-0003-2289-0609, Hong Kong Observatory), Dominique Derome (0000-0002-8018-1133, Université de Sherbrooke), Zhiwen Luo (0000-0002-0524-9951, Cardiff University), Diána Ürge-Vorsatz (0000-0003-2570-5341, Central European University), Jan Carmeliet (0000-0001-7489-2652, Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 124033-124033 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ad0a56 |
| OpenAlex | W4388454699 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 56 |
Rising demand for space cooling has been placing enormous strain on various technological, environmental, and societal dimensions, resulting in issues related to energy consumption, environmental sustainability, health and well-being, affordability, and equity. Holistic approaches that combine energy efficiency optimization, policy-making, and societal adaptation must be rapidly promoted as viable and timely solutions. We interpret the 30 year climatic-induced upward trend and spikes in urban space cooling demand from the perspective of climate change, urbanization, and background climates, through the lens of five major populated cities: Hong Kong, Sydney, Montreal, Zurich, and London. An unequivocal, worrying upward trend in cooling demand is observed in meteorological data, using cooling degree hours (CDHs) as a city-scale climatic-induced metric. The surge in cooling energy demand can be largely attributed to climate warming and urban heat islands, with the most abrupt spikes associated with intensified extreme heat events. Further, our quantification of the impact of the base temperature, in relation to the historical CDH, reveals that a 20% energy saving could be achieved instantly within a rather broad range of air temperature and relative humidity by increasing the setpoint temperature by one degree. With the rise in background temperatures due to climate change, the potential for energy saving diminishes for the same level of increase in setpoint temperature. For instance, an increase from 26 °C to 27 °C results in about 10% energy savings, while an increase from 22 °C to 23 °C could yield over 20% in energy savings. To reduce cooling energy demand rapidly in a warming climate, we highlight the necessity of promoting hard and soft behavioral adaptation along with regulatory intervention for the operation of space cooling systems
Climate change · Economics · Energy budget · Energy consumption · Geography · Global warming · Heating degree day · Meteorology · Natural resource economics · Overheating (electricity · Setpoint · Sustainability · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Building Energy and Comfort Optimization · Environmental Science · Urban Heat Island Mitigation · Ecology
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| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |