Assessing the impact of climate change and urban heat island on the city-wide building cooling demand in Barcelona using the SUECM model

Climate change and urban heat islands increase the use of mechanical cooling in buildings. The urban heat island (UHI) is responsible for a significant increase in the cooling load of buildings in Mediterranean cities. Furthermore, the use of air conditioning (AC) in buildings generates waste heat into the urban canopy thereby exacerbating the urban heat island (UHI) intensity. A significant increase in city-scale energy consumption and anthropogenic heat generation is expected due to climate change and the broader use of AC in buildings. This study investigates the combined effect of global warming and urban heat island intensity on the future building cooling demand. The analysis will be carried out using the standalone urban energy/climate model (SUECM) and future weather estimates.