Effect of existing residential renovation strategies on heating and cooling load in Shanghai

Abstract

To provide a reference for the renovation of Shanghai’s existing residential districts, this study quantifies and compares the relationships between common renovation strategies, microclimate, heating and cooling loads. These common strategies include improving the greening rate (G), improving the reflectivity of pavement (P), improving the reflectivity of wall materials (W), and improving the reflectivity of roof materials or applying green roof (R). These strategies are applied to a typical model extracted from existing residential areas in Shanghai, China. ENVI-met and EnergyPlus are combined to simulate the microclimate represented by the average meteorological parameters in front of building surfaces and the building heating and cooling load on a typical meteorological day in winter and summer. The results show that applying microclimate data around target building contributes to a significant difference in air conditioning load in both summer and winter. For summer, G, W, and R reduced their total cooling load, whereas P increased this parameter. R contributed the most significant decrease in the total cooling load, followed by W, and G contributed the least. G3P1W3R3 and G1P3W1R1 were the scenarios with the lowest and highest cooling load. The total cooling load under G3P1W3R3 was 136 kWh (12.7%) less than that under G1P3W1R1. For winter, P and applying green roof (R4) reduced the heating load of the target building, whereas G, W and improving roof reflectivity (R2, R3) increased it. G1P3W1R4 and G3P1W3R3 were the scenarios with the lowest and highest heating load. The heating load under G1P3W1R4 was 145 kWh (14.5%) less than that under G3P1W3R3.