Energy Performance Analysis with Relevance to Urban Form

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2021-9
Işık Demirci, Bircan
Urban areas have become the nodal points of the energy problem. Overcoming such points, thus, is essential for responding to the urgent call for the energy transition. This problem manifests itself especially in the buildings, which are a vital element of the energy transition due to their energy-saving and generation potential. As such, the early urban design phase, where energy and environmental quality concerns are typically dealt with, is of utmost importance to reduce the energy use of buildings, increase generating their energy with renewables, and mitigate urban heat island effect. On the other hand, properly integrating energy performance and urban local climate considerations into urban design practices requires a better understanding of the effect of the design decisions. In this regard, this research focuses on the early design phase of future residential areas to better understand how urban design decisions, particularly those that are related to urban form, affect buildings' energy performance and urban heat island intensity. Thus, it aims to be a step toward integrating energy and urban local climate considerations into urban design practices to help energy transition. In this framework, this study uses a bottom-up, physics-based approach for energy modeling; and conducts evaluations through a total of 162 simulations in the Grasshopper environment via Dragonfly, Climate Studio, and Colibri. In simulations, parametrically designed hypothetical models were used. Since there are three main climate types in Turkey according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, this study relies on climate data available in three cities; namely İzmir (C), Konya (B), and Van (D) as the representative of these three climate types. In conclusion, this research states that, considering the energy demands of buildings, more compact forms are advantageous in terms of heating and cooling needs. When the buildings' active solar energy production potential is examined and the balance between the buildings' energy demand and production potential is considered, less compact and less dense urban forms come to the forefront. Furthermore, research findings revealed that urban heat island (UHI) has significant effects on buildings' heating and cooling needs. When UHI was not considered, the annual heating EUI (energy use intensity) increased by 11-18 %; the annual cooling EUI decreased by 19-58 % compared to the situation in which UHI was considered.

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Citation Formats
B. Işık Demirci, “Energy Performance Analysis with Relevance to Urban Form,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2021.