10.6084/m9.figshare.1011551.v1
F Salamanca
F
Salamanca
M Georgescu
M
Georgescu
A Mahalov
A
Mahalov
M Moustaoui
M
Moustaoui
M Wang
M
Wang
B M Svoma
B
M Svoma
(a) The four two-way nested domains considered in the runs
IOP Publishing
2013
surface stations
modeling AC electricity consumption
electricity consumption
33 land use categories
lulc
air conditioning
evening hours
load values
Abstract Evaluation
AC systems
hir
heat events
coi
utility company
environment energy demand
wa
lir
building energy scheme
WRF simulations
Inner domain
consumption requirements
stations Mesa
pg
pe
Weather Research
Meteorological network
model evaluation
Environmental Science
2013-08-29 00:00:00
Figure
https://iop.figshare.com/articles/figure/_a_The_four_two_way_nested_domains_considered_in_the_runs/1011551
<p><strong>Figure 1.</strong> (a) The four two-way nested domains considered in the runs. (Numerical domains.) (b) Inner domain and surface stations for model evaluation. (Meteorological network and LULC MODIS-based.) The urban stations Mesa (ME), Phoenix Encanto (PE), Phoenix Greenway (PG), and Waddell (WA) are indicated in the map. The 31, 32, and 33 land use categories correspond to LIR, HIR, and COI urban classes respectively.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>Evaluation of built environment energy demand is necessary in light of global projections of urban expansion. Of particular concern are rapidly expanding urban areas in environments where consumption requirements for cooling are excessive. Here, we simulate urban air conditioning (AC) electric consumption for several extreme heat events during summertime over a semiarid metropolitan area with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled to a multilayer building energy scheme. Observed total load values obtained from an electric utility company were split into two parts, one linked to meteorology (i.e., AC consumption) which was compared to WRF simulations, and another to human behavior. WRF-simulated non-dimensional AC consumption profiles compared favorably to diurnal observations in terms of both amplitude and timing. The hourly ratio of AC to total electricity consumption accounted for ~53% of diurnally averaged total electric demand, ranging from ~35% during early morning to ~65% during evening hours. Our work highlights the importance of modeling AC electricity consumption and its role for the sustainable planning of future urban energy needs. Finally, the methodology presented in this article establishes a new energy consumption-modeling framework that can be applied to any urban environment where the use of AC systems is prevalent.</p>