Volume 5: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part IV

Transformative Model of Urban Buildings Optimizing Energy Demands, Solar Harvesting Potential, and Indoor Thermal Comfort Soowon Chang, Takahiro Yoshida, Michael Boynton Tobey, Yoshiki Yamagata, Perry P.J. Yang

Abstract

Cities are requiring more energy by increasing the population. Among urban elements, buildings account for about 40% of energy demands and 30% of carbon dioxide emissions globally. To address the increasing energy demands and environmental responsibility from the population growth, existing buildings should be transformed into high energy efficient forms while satisfying human comfort. This research explores a transformative model optimizing energy balance and indoor thermal comfort based on building forms. The transformative model is built based on analyzing 903 buildings in Sumida-ward, Tokyo, Japan. The result enables city planners to predict urban building performance based on planning or designing building typologies. The model can contribute to planning an optimal urban buildings’ retrofitting or redevelopment for future smart and sustainable communities.

Keywords energy resilient urban building planning, transformative model, energy efficiency and security, indoor thermal comfort