A novel parametric workflow for simulating urban heat island effects on residential building energy use: Coupling local climate zones with the urban weather generator a case study of seven U.S. cities

The Urban Heat Island (UHI), which causes urban areas to be warmer than rural counterparts, impacts buildings' energy demands for heating and cooling. Conventional weather data, typically gathered at non-urban sites like airports, are used to create Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) files for building energy assessments. However, this data doesn't account for urban temperature effects, impacting the accuracy of these assessments. This study proposes a novel methodology that couples Local Climate Zones (LCZs) with the Urban Weather Generator (UWG) to produce urban-specific weather data reflecting UHI effects for more accurate energy simulations. LCZs categorize urban neighborhoods into landscape types based on building heights, proximity, greenspace, etc., which regulate the magnitude of the UHI. The UWG uses LCZ parameters to estimate UHI intensity based on existing weather conditions. Together, they generate city-specific TMY files tailored to individual neighborhoods. Here, modified TMY files for seven U.S. cities located in different climates, were generated and used in residential building energy simulations. The UHI effect increases Cooling Degree Days (CDD) and decreases Heating Degree Days (HDD), but energy demand impacts vary by city and LCZ type. This methodology provides a simple means for incorporating the impact of UHI into building and urban energy simulations.