A Simple Tool for Estimating City-Wide Annual Electrical Energy Savings from Cooler Surfaces

Publication Type

Journal Article

Date Published

12/2015

Authors

DOI

Abstract

We present a simple method to estimate the maximum possible electrical energy saving that might be achieved by increasing the albedo of surfaces in a large city. We restrict this to the “indirect effect”, the cooling of outside air that lessens the demand for air conditioning (AC). Given the power demand of the electric utilities and data about the city, we can use a single linear equation to estimate the maximum savings. For example, the result for an albedo change of 0.2 of pavements in a typical warm city in California, such as Sacramento, is that the saving is less than about 2 kWh per m2 per year. This may help decision makers choose which heat island mitigation techniques are economical from an energy-saving perspective.

Journal

Urban Climate

Volume

14

Year of Publication

2015

Issue

2

ISSN

22120955

Organization

Research Areas

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