A simple tool for estimating city-wide annual electrical energy savings from cooler surfaces

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Urban Climate

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2015.05.007· OSTI ID:1236696

Pomerantz, Melvin; Rosado, Pablo J.; Levinson, Ronnen

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.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• OSTI ID: 1236696
• Report Number(s): LBNL-184804; ir:184804
• Journal Information: Urban Climate, Vol. 14, Issue P2; ISSN 2212-0955
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English