Energy and Environmental Aptitude (EEA) to Assess Solar Energy Exploitation in Cities

In Argentina, the number of residential buildings (ho mes) has grown 20% in the last decade (2000-2010), thus increasing the level of non-renewable energy consumption of the residential area per inhabitant (0.25 TOE per capita per year in 2000, 0.3 TOE per capita per year in 2010) and lowering the construction quality. This situation has a significant impact on the GHG emissions to the environment. W ithin this context, this paper aims to assess the energy and environ- mental aptitude (EEA) of residential building groups in characteristic urban areas (urban mosaics), to estimate the potenti- ality of solar energy and energy efficiency explo itation. To begin with, the follo wing urban area variab les were calculated fro m aerial and satellite image classification techniques: i. Horizontal heat d issipation area; ii. Construction sys tem of horizontal heat dissipation area - Roofs; iii. Vert ical heat dissipation perimeter - Walls; iv. Bu ilt-up area height. Then, obtained results were exposed on two characteristic urban areas, differing in the co mpactness of its fabric, what allowed to evaluate that the urban area of greater co mpactness presented lower energy loss and similar EEA in relation to the urban area of lo wer co mpactness. This conclusion contributes to the discussion about the diffuse city and the co mpact city, since it reinforces the need to develop urban conglomerates with greater building co mpactness.