Assessment of the Annual Energy Demand for Cooling of Buildings in their Urban Context in 26 Cities in China

This paper introduces and applies an algorithm to translate available EPW climate data into annual climate datasets containing urban microclimate effects of the specific location through multiple application of the microclimate simulation model ENVI-met. The resulting annual microclimate information is able to be applied in thermal simulation studies with TRNSYS to determine the course of the temperatures in a building over the year as well as the resulting annual cooling demand. 56 detailed 24h-simulation runs are performed to represent the climatic conditions each week of the year and four additional extreme climate situations. From the results of these ENVI-met calculations an 8760h-dataset is constructed as input for an annual thermal simulation study. The algorithm has been tested for 26 locations in China through comparison of the original dataset with a model representing a 'neutral' site environment for calibration. It then has been applied for urban context models with green coverage. Differences in maximum temperatures as well as the impact of the urban context on the annual cooling demand are reported for the 26 locations. From these results also the CO2-emission reduction potentials are calculated.