Increasing Solar Reflectivity of Building Envelope Materials to Mitigate Urban Heat Islands: State-of-the-Art Review

Ziaeemehr, Bahador; Jandaghian, Zahra; Ge, Hua; Lacasse, Michael; Moore, Travis

doi:10.3390/buildings13112868

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…Urban morphology, vegetation [29,30], and reflectance [31] are the three main channels to mitigate urban heat island. This research explored the effects of H/W, an urban morphology indicator, on thermal environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Effect of Aspect Ratio (H/W) on Thermal Environment in Multiple Climate Zones with Open-Source Data

Rao,

Zheng,

2024

Buildings

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For a country with multiple climate zones, analyzing the impacts of urban design in different climate zones is a prerequisite to climate adaptation policies. However, countries advanced in climate adaptation strategies are mostly located in a single climate zone, leading to a lack of research on climate adaptation policies for multiple climate countries. As China is launching the urban zoning management policy, this research takes China as an example to explore a technique to quickly distinguish the impact of urban design in multiple climate zones by combing the open-source data with the Envi-met tool, where the open-source data indicate the data that can be obtained from public platforms such as the internet and Envi-met is a microclimate simulation tool. First, the open street map tool, one of the open-source data, was used to abstract the typical models of each climate city. Then, open-source meteorological data were employed as the boundary conditions for Envi-met simulation. Lastly, after the Envi-met simulation, the impacts of aspect ratio (H/W) on multiple climate indicators in seven climate cities were analyzed with the meteorological interpolation method. The analytical results show that H/W has a stronger ability to regulate the thermal comfort of high latitude cities. In Guangzhou and Changsha, the maximum differences of PET caused by H/W are only 0.61 °C (Changsha) and 0.63 °C (Guangzhou). H/W has the strongest regulating effect on the thermal comfort in Harbin, with the highest value of 8.62 °C. The regulating effects of H/W on outdoor PET in other 4 cities are 4.37 °C in Urumqi, 3.29 °C in Xining, 1.29 °C in Xi’an, and 0.76 °C in Kunming. In addition, H/W mainly affects PET by modifying the radiant temperature. Compared with mean radiant temperature, the effects of H/W on air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed are negligible. Longitude regulates the occurrence time of the coldest and hottest thermal environments. Among the seven climate zones in China, the difference in appearance time between the coldest and hottest reaches up to 2 h. For the implementation of urban zoning management policy, in China, high latitude cities are encouraged to high H/W to create a comfortable city. Cities whose latitude is less than 30° may not consider the impacts of H/W on thermal comfort. This method of combining open-source data with Envi-met can serve as a reference for other countries that span multiple climate zones. In addition, these results provide a decision-making basis for the management of H/W in different climate cities of China.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Effect of Aspect Ratio (H/W) on Thermal Environment in Multiple Climate Zones with Open-Source Data

Rao,

Zheng,

2024

Buildings

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“…Many building materials, such as concrete and asphalt, have good heat-absorption properties. This means that they absorb and retain heat from the sun, leading to higher surface temperatures and contributing to overall warming in urban areas [62][63][64]. Overall, the presence and characteristics of buildings in urban areas can significantly impact local temperatures, leading to higher temperatures compared to the surrounding rural areas.…”

Section: Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Effects of Urban Canopy on Extreme Rainfall over the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa Using the WRF Model

Birungi,

Yu,

Chaibou

et al. 2024

Atmosphere

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The model simulation focuses on an extreme rainfall event that triggered a flood hazard in the Lake Victoria basin region of East Africa from June 24th to 26th, 2022. This study investigates the impacts of its urban canopy on the extreme rainfall events over the Lake Victoria basin in East Africa, employing the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model at a convective-permitting resolution. The rapid urbanization of the region has given rise to an urban canopy, which has notable effects on local weather patterns, including the intensity and distribution of rainfall. The model incorporates high-resolution land use and urban canopy parameters to accurately capture the influences of urbanization on local weather patterns. This research comprises three sets of experiments, two with urban areas and one without, using the WRF model; the experiments focus on three days of an extreme rainfall event in the Lake Victoria basin. Satellite-based precipitation products and reanalysis datasets are employed for a synoptic analysis and model evaluation. The results demonstrate the model’s effectiveness in capturing meteorological variables during an extreme event compared to observed data. The synoptic patterns reveal that, during the extreme event, the Mascarene and St. Helena influenced rainfall conditions over the Lake Victoria Basin by directing moist air toward the northwest. This led to increased moisture convergence from the urban–rural interface toward urban areas, enhancing convection and processes that result in extreme rainfall. Moreover, this study indicates that the urban canopy, specifically the building effect parameterization, significantly amplifies the intensity and duration of rainfall in the urban areas of the region. This research also indicates a general increase in air temperature, relative humidity, latent heat flux, and surface sensible heat flux due to the urban canopy. These findings highlight the substantial influence of urbanization on rainfall patterns in the urban environment.

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Flow patterns and heat transfer of an idealized square city in non-uniform heat flux and different background wind conditions

Teng,

Zhang,

Fan

et al. 2024

Building and Environment

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Increasing Solar Reflectivity of Building Envelope Materials to Mitigate Urban Heat Islands: State-of-the-Art Review

Cited by 7 publications

References 120 publications

Exploring the Effect of Aspect Ratio (H/W) on Thermal Environment in Multiple Climate Zones with Open-Source Data

Exploring the Effect of Aspect Ratio (H/W) on Thermal Environment in Multiple Climate Zones with Open-Source Data

Assessing the Effects of Urban Canopy on Extreme Rainfall over the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa Using the WRF Model

Flow patterns and heat transfer of an idealized square city in non-uniform heat flux and different background wind conditions

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