Incorporating equivalent temperature in building cooling load prediction

Abstract

Buildings is accounted for a large fraction of urban energy use. Predicting building load is therefore significant for urban energy savings. The effects of sensible temperature on building energy demand have been widely studied, whereas the effects of humidity (latent temperature) is relatively less studied. The concept of equivalent temperature was adopted in this study to assess the effects of climate. A generic office building model was used to run simulations at mesoscale/local-scale. On average, latent cooling load accounted for 27.85% and 31.05% of the total cooling load in tropical and temperate cities, suggesting humidity plays a significant role in predicting building cooling demand in hot and humid areas. Moreover, equivalent temperature shows a robust correlation with the total building cooling load. Peer-review under the responsibility of the organizing committee of the ICMB21.