Impacts of climate change on heating and cooling loads in residential buildings

Abstract

In this study, heating and cooling requirements in existing and new built apartment blocks were investigated based on the projected impacts of climate change for three different cities of Turkey, i.e. Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir representing cold, temperate-humid and hot-humid climate conditions. The Hadley Centre Coupled Model Version 3 (HadCM3)-A2a, A2b and A2c experiments was applied to evaluate future climate for the time period 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s. It was found that relatively high effect on heating and cooling loads may occur in residential buildings in Turkey. Although the decrease in the annual energy demand of new built and existing apartment blocks for heating is predicted to vary between approximately 9% and 29%, cooling demand increases between 1.7 and 30-times up to 2080s according to local climate and climate change scenario; HadCM3-A2a, A2b and A2c. Therefore, usage of the passive cooling strategies is essential in residential buildings.