Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441

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Building and Environment

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Developing a modified typical meteorological year weather file for Hong Kong
taking into account the urban heat island effect
A.L.S. Chan*
Division of Building Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Building energy computer simulation software is a useful tool for achieving sophisticated design and
Received 24 February 2011 evaluation of the thermal performance of buildings. For successful thermal and energy simulation of
Received in revised form buildings, it requires hourly weather data such as dry bulb air temperature, relative humidity, solar
29 April 2011
radiation, wind speed, etc. Nowadays, an urban city faces a problem of an urban heat island which causes
Accepted 30 April 2011
the urban area to have a higher air temperature than the rural region. Since the currently available
weather dataset used in building simulation software mainly comes from weather stations located in
Keywords:
remote and rural areas, the impact of the urban heat island on thermal and energy performance of
Typical meteorological year
Urban heat island
buildings may not be effectively reflected. This paper reports an approach to construct a modified typical
EnergyPlus meteorological weather file, taking into account the urban heat island effect in the summer season. Field
Building energy simulation measurements have been carried out in the summer months and the corresponding urban heat island
intensities were then determined. With a morphing algorithm, an existing typical meteorological year
weather file was modified. An office building and a typical residential flat were modeled with
a renowned building energy simulation program EnergyPlus. Computer simulations were conducted
using the existing and modified typical meteorological year weather files. It was found that there was
around a 10% increase in air-conditioning demand caused by the urban heat island effect in both cases.
The implications of this and further work will also be discussed in this paper.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction commonly used by researchers around the world for studying

With its rapid economic development, Hong Kong has become one
of the well-developed cities of the world. In this high-density city,
a number of modern buildings have been designed and constructed in
the past few decades. In order to achieve sophisticated building
design and performance evaluation, computer simulation using
thermal simulation software is a commonly adopted and effective
approach. Computer simulation software requires hourly weather
data such as dry bulb temperature, dew point temperature, solar
radiation, wind speed and direction, etc. For successful building
thermal and energy simulation, a set of representative weather data is
one of the key factors. Since weather conditions can vary significantly
from year to year, there is a need to derive a set of typical weather year
data to represent the long-term typical weather conditions over
a year. It is internationally recognized that a typical meteorological
year (TMY) weather dataset can represent the long-term typical
weather conditions and is more reliable in replicating average
historical conditions. Therefore, TMY weather data files are
* Tel.: þ852 3442 9676; fax: þ852 3442 9716.
E-mail address: bsapplec@cityu.edu.hk.
building thermal and energy performance. In the past, there has been
no local TMY weather dataset available in Hong Kong. Since 2006,
a Hong Kong TMY weather data file has been developed by the author
based on a 25-year hourly measured data record (1979e2003) [1].
In recent years, Hong Kong has encountered the problem of the
urban heat island (UHI). The UHI effect means that an urban area is
significantly warmer than its rural surroundings. The major causes
of this effect include over-crowding of high-rise buildings with
bulky thermal mass properties, tall buildings blocking the sea
breeze and releasing thermal radiation, and lack of vegetation in
urban areas. Since the meteorological data used for developing the
TMY weather file come from data measured by the Hong Kong
Observatory (HKO) stations which are mainly located in rural or
sub-urban areas, the impact of the UHI effect cannot be reflected by
these meteorological data and the subsequent TMY file developed.
As a result, using the existing TMY weather file for evaluating the
thermal and energy performance of buildings located in city
centers with a UHI effect may not be accurate, or the average energy
consumption of these buildings may be underestimated.
Therefore there is a potential need to derive a modified TMY
weather dataset for Hong Kong and evaluate the difference of

0360-1323/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.04.038
 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441
thermal and energy performance of buildings located in rural areas
and city centers. The objective of this project is to develop
a modified TMY weather file for the city center in Hong Kong,
taking the UHI effect into account. With the modified TMY weather
file, the thermal and energy performance of air-conditioned office
buildings and residential apartments located in rural areas and
urban cities will be investigated and compared.
There are a number of previous studies on the UHI effect
around the world. Giridharan et al. investigated the impact of
design-related variables on outdoor micro level daytime and
nocturnal heat island effects in urban residential developments in
Hong Kong [2e5]. Through mobile measurements and sensors in
fixed stations in three large residential housing estates, it was
discovered that surface albedo, sky view factor, vegetation above
1 m in height and average height to total floor area ratio have
a very significant influence on the daytime and nocturnal UHI
effect. The UHI intensity in London during the summer and winter
seasons was studied by Kolokogtroni and Giridharan [6,7]. Six on-
site variables including aspect ratio, surface albedo, plan density
ratio, green density ratio, fabric density ratio and thermal mass
were used in the study. The results revealed that the most critical
variable that determined the daytime and nocturnal changes in
outdoor temperature during summer season is the surface albedo.
In the winter season, the average nocturnal UHI was of similar
magnitude to the summer period but the peak winter UHI trends
were not as regular as in the summer. Unlike the summer, most of
the changes in outdoor temperature during the winter period
were caused by climate factors (sky conditions and regional wind
velocity) and not the on-site variables. In Greece, research on the
UHI effect was carried out by Kolokotsa et al. [8]. Data from
meteorological stations and field measurements were used for the
analysis. The results indicated that during the summer period
where the temperature is high, the UHI took its maximum
intensity, of about 8  C. Moreover, the form of UHI was strongly
influenced by the wind speed and direction. The northern winds
expanded the UHI front while the western winds contributed to
a reduction in UHI. Bourbia and Boucheriba studied the impact of
geometry on the street climate and UHI effect [9]. The investiga-
tion found an air temperature difference of 3e6  C existing
between the urban street and its surrounding rural environment.
It was suggested that the UHI effect could be reduced by
controlling the sky view factor and inclusion of vegetation. Shade
from trees could reduce heat gain by directly shading buildings
and also by evapotranspiration. The significance of on-site design
variables in relation to UHI intensity has also been investigated by
Yang et al. [10]. An empirical study on the summer time UHI
patterns in three high-rise residential quarters of the inner-city in
Shanghai, China was carried out. It was found that site charac-
teristics in plot layout, density and greenery had different impacts
on UHI-day and UHI-night patterns. Daytime UHI was closely
related to site shading factor. Total site factor as an integrated
measure of solar admittance showed a higher explanatory power
in UHI-day than sky view factors under a partially cloudy sky
condition. On the other hand, nocturnal UHI could not be well
explained statistically by the on-site variables, indicating influ-
ences from anthropogenic heat and other sources. Evaporative
cooling by vegetation played a more important role at night than it
did during the day.
The effect of UHI on the air-conditioning load of buildings has
been investigated by various researchers. Hassid et al. used building
energy simulation software DOE2.1E and weather data of the years
1997 and 1998 at selected sites to study the UHI effect in Athens on
the air-conditioning load [11]. The calculation of cooling energy and
peak power in the western Greater Athens area based on a typical
meteorological year of Athens without taking the UHI effect into
2435
account was shown to underestimate both the energy consumption
and peak power of the building air-conditioning systems. A similar
study was conducted by Radhi in Bahrain [12]. The study was
related to climate variability and evaluated its impact on the
performance of weather data used in building simulation. The
results revealed that the weather file developed based on far past
data (before 1991) tends to underestimate the electricity
consumption by 14.5% and misrepresented the cooling load by
5.9e8.9%. For prediction of the present and future performance of
buildings, it was suggested to use recently updated data (after
1991). In London, Kolokotroni et al. investigated the effect of the
UHI on the summer cooling demand and night ventilation strate-
gies for office buildings [13]. Results of air temperature measure-
ments carried out in London in 1999/2000 were used to quantify
the London UHI intensity. The measured maximum and minimum
air temperatures were used as the air temperature input in the
simulation tool. Hourly temperatures were calculated by sinusoidal
curve fitting. Parametric analysis was carried out by using a thermal
and air flow simulation tool specifically designed for offices in
southeastern England. The results found that a rural reference
office has an 84% energy demand for cooling compared to an urban
office. Moreover, a rural office would not need any artificial cooling
at nighttime and would be able to maintain a temperature below
24  C. An urban office would not be able to achieve this. The results
also indicated that increased urban temperatures should be taken
into account in simulations for assessing the thermal and energy
performance of buildings as they resulted in significant deviations
from using standard meteorological weather data.
Under subtropical weather conditions, like the Hong Kong
situation, so far little work has been done to investigate the thermal
and energy performance of buildings with a modified TMY weather
file taking into account the UHI effect. In the present study, mobile
measurements were performed. The measured data were incor-
porated into an existing TMY weather data file by using a “Morph-
ing” method. With the modified weather dataset, the impact of the
UHI on the cooling demands of commercial and residential build-
ings in Hong Kong was evaluated. The results and analysis are
reported in this paper.
2. Development of a modified typical meteorological year
weather file
2.1. Geographical location and climate of Hong Kong
Hong Kong is located on the southern coast of Mainland China
(latitude at 22190 N and longitude at 114100 E). The territory
comprises four major parts namely Kowloon Peninsula, New
Territories, Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island. A map of Hong
Kong is shown in Fig. 1. Kowloon Peninsula, with an area of
46.94 km2, forms the southern part of the main territory of Hong
Kong. At the north of the Kowloon Peninsula, there is another major
area called New Territories (976.85 km2). These two areas are
separated by a street named Boundary Street. The southern part of
Kowloon Peninsula faces the Hong Kong Island which is separated
from the mainland (Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories) by
Victoria Harbor. The area of Hong Kong Island is about 78.51 km2.
Lantau Island is located at the west of Hong Kong Island with an
area of 147.16 km2. It is originally a fishing village. Major infra-
structure projects including the Hong Kong International Airport
and Hong Kong Disneyland were established on this island.
The climate in Hong Kong is subtropical, tending toward hot and
humid summers. The winter season is relatively short and mild. In
this city, January and February are often cloudy with dry northerly
winds. The monthly mean air temperature is around 16  C and
the monthly mean daily total solar radiation ranges from 9.1 to
2436 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441
Fig. 1. A map of Hong Kong.
10.1 MJ/m2.day. In March and April, Hong Kong is occasionally
affected by fog and drizzle. From May to September, the climate is
hot and humid with occasional showers, thunderstorms and trop-
ical cyclones. The maximum air temperature usually exceeds 31  C
in the afternoon, and the air temperature generally remains above
26  C with high humidity (80% or above) at nighttime. The solar
radiation is rich and the peak occurs in July with a monthly mean
value of 17.2 MJ/m2.day. During October, November and December,
there are often clear skies with plenty of sunshine. The mild air
temperature and low relative humidity make this period the best of
the year.
2.2. Field measurement
For the purpose of data collection, four different locations in
Hong Kong, namely Tsuen Wan, Wan Chai, Mong Kok and
Causeway Bay, were selected for field measurement. Fig. 2 shows
the site photos of these four selected locations. The first two sites
are well-developed and high-density residential districts. Most of
the residential buildings have an average age of 30 years and are
about 20e30 stories high. The other two locations are central
commercial regions. In Mong Kok, there is a combination of high-
rise commercial buildings and low-rise mixed residential and
commercial blocks. By contrast, Causeway Bay is mainly sur-
rounded by high-rise commercial towers. Tsuen Wan and Mong
Kok are located in the New Territories and Kowloon Peninsula
respectively, while Wan Chai and Causeway Bay are both sited on
Hong Kong Island. These four locations were selected because they
cover different districts in Hong Kong representing both residential
and commercial regions. Moreover, these four sites have common
features including high building plot ratio, lack of vegetation and
proximity to screen-like buildings which are crucial factors to UHI
effect. Therefore, field measurements were carried out in these four
locations.
In these four locations, the dry bulb air temperature and air
velocity were measured simultaneously at hourly intervals. Mobile
measurements were carried out in Tsuen Wan, Mong Kok and
Causeway Bay, from 9:00am to 8:00pm, on four non-consecutive
days per month, from April to December 2010. In each location,
the mobile measurements were carried out at ten different points
using a thermometer and hot-wire anemometer. The sensors
worked at a height of about 1.5 m above the ground. In Wan Chai,
both mobile and stationary measurements were conducted. Mobile
measurements were conducted from 9:00am to 8:00pm as the
other three locations while stationary measurements were carried
out for a period from 9:00pm to 8:00am in order to study the UHI
effect over the nocturnal period. A stationary sun-shielded air
temperature sensor and anemometer connected with a datalogger
were fixed outside a window of an apartment located on the fifth
floor of a residential block.
The meteorological station of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO)
is located at Kowloon Peninsula and is 32 m above the sea level. The
exact location is shown in Fig. 1. It is mainly surrounded by grass
and trees, with a few low-density building blocks. As this meteo-
rological station is located outside the urban city and is therefore
considered a rural station. The value of urban heat island intensity
(UHII) was calculated by using the on-site measured air tempera-
ture to deduct the temperature recorded simultaneously at the HKO
station. Figs. 3e6 show the measured temperature patterns in the
four locations, and comparison with the records from HKO station
on a typical summer day in July and a typical winter day in
December. In this study, 7:00am to 6:00pm is considered daytime
while the nocturnal period is assumed as being from 7:00pm to
6:00am. In Fig. 3, the variation of air temperature on a typical
summer day recorded by HKO was plotted. It indicates that the air
temperature starts to rise from 7:00am and a peak of 32.5  C was
recorded at 3:00pm. After the evening, the air temperature is still
high and remains above 29  C while the lowest temperature of
 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441
Fig. 2. Site photos of the four selected locations for field measurement. (a) Tsuen Wan,
(b) Wan Chai, (c) Mong Kok and (d) Causeway Bay.
27.4  C was found in the early morning. Plotted on the same figure
are the hourly measured air temperatures in the four locations. The
curves reveal that during the daytime the maximum air tempera-
ture (34.7  C) appears in Causeway Bay at 1:00pm and the
minimum air temperature (28.8  C) comes from a measured value
in Wan Chai at 7:00am. The mean UHIIs in these four locations are
Fig. 3. Measured air temperatures in the four selected locations on a typical summer day.
2437
Fig. 4. Air temperature profiles of urban city versus rural HKO station and UHIIs on
a typical summer day.
1.7  C (Tsuen Wan), 1.5  C (Wan Chai), 1.9  C (Mong Kok) and 1.9  C
(Causeway Bay).
The hourly daytime air temperatures of the four locations were
combined and then the averaged hourly values were plotted
together with the nocturnal variation of air temperature measured
by the stationary measuring instrument setup in Wan Chai as
shown in Fig. 4. The pattern of temperature variation is similar to
that recorded by HKO. The UHII ranges from 0.5  C (at 4:00pm) to
2.9  C (at 9:00am), with a mean value of 1.4  C. The measurement
also reveals that the average UHII in the daytime is 1.7  C which is
higher than that in the nocturnal period (1.1  C).
Similar presentation of the measured results for a typical winter
day is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The mean daytime UHIIs of a typical
winter day in these four locations are 1.2  C (Tsuen Wan), 1.9  C
(Wan Chai), 1.8  C (Mong Kok) and 1.1  C (Causeway Bay). The
combined daytime and nocturnal UHII pattern, as plotted in Fig. 6,
gives maximum, minimum and mean UHIIs of 2.5  C (at 9:00pm),
1.0  C (at 6:00am) and 1.6  C, respectively, over a typical winter day.
The average UHII in the daytime is 1.6  C while a mean value of
1.5  C was found in the nocturnal period.
In the present study, only the impact of UHI on the cooling
demand of buildings in Hong Kong was covered. The monthly UHIIs
of the cooling months (MayeOctober) were calculated for each
individual location. Then, by averaging the monthly UHIIs of the
four locations, mean monthly UHIIs for the urban city were
2438 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441

Fig. 5. Measured air temperatures in the four selected locations on a typical winter day.

determined and plotted in Fig. 7. The values of the mean UHII range x ¼ xo þ Dxm (1)
from 1.13  C in May to 1.74  C in July with an overall mean value of
x ¼ am xo (2)
1.37  C. The data obtained from the field measurement were used
to construct a modified TMY weather file for studying the impact of x ¼ xo þ Dxm þ am  ðxo  hxo im Þ (3)
UHI on building energy performance.
where xo ¼ existing hourly climatic variable, Dxm ¼ absolute change
in monthly mean climatic variable for the month m, am ¼ fractional
2.3. Modifying the existing typical meteorological year weather file
change in monthly mean climatic variable for month m,
hxoim ¼ climatic variable xo average over month m.
In order to incorporate the effect of UHI into a standard TMY
A shift adds a monthly change to the current hourly weather
weather file, an appropriate methodology should be adopted.
data parameter. This method is mainly used for adjusting atmo-
Belcher et al. [14] developed a method, called Morphing, to produce
spheric pressure. The second approach is to stretch current hourly
design weather data for building thermal simulations that account
weather data which scales the current hourly data with a relative
for changes of climatic condition. Morphing involves shifting and
monthly mean change of the weather data. One example of appli-
stretching the climatic variables in the present-day weather time
cation is to adjust wind speed. For the combination of a shift and
series to produce new weather time series that encapsulate the
a stretch, a current hourly weather data is shifted by adding an
average climate change, whilst preserving the physically realistic
absolute monthly mean change and stretched by a monthly diurnal
weather sequences of the source data. The method is simple and
variation of the parameter. This approach is applied for adjusting
effective. Many researchers around the world have applied this
the dry bulb air temperature. It uses the measured monthly
method in research on the effect of climate change on building
difference of the diurnal mean, minimum and maximum dry bulb
performance [15e18]. By using this method, the existing Hong
air temperatures in order to integrate predicted variations of the
Kong TMY weather data file will be modified with the measured
diurnal cycle.
UHI intensities. The common algorithms used for morphing the
The original TMY weather data file was formed from measured
weather data are (i) a shift; (ii) a linear stretch; (iii) a combination
data provided by HKO. The FinkelsteineSchafer statistical method
of shift and stretch, as listed in equations (1)e(3).
was applied to analyze the hourly measured weather data of a 25-

Fig. 6. Air temperature profiles of urban city versus rural HKO station and UHIIs on
a typical winter day. Fig. 7. Mean monthly UHIIs over the six cooling months (MayeOctober).
 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441 2439

Table 1
Values of Dxm, am and hxoim for input into a morphing algorithm: combination of
a shift and a stretch.

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Dxm 1.13 1.29 1.74 1.45 1.37 1.27
am 0.14 0.21 0.23 0.28 0.26 0.19
hxoim 26.1 27.9 28.8 28.4 27.5 25.3

year period (1979e2003) in Hong Kong and select representative

typical meteorological months (TMMs). The cumulative distribu-
tion function (CDF) for each year was compared with the CDF for
the long-term composite of all the years in the period for four major
weather indices including dry bulb temperature, dew point
temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. Typical months for
each of the twelve calendar months from the period of years were
selected by choosing the one with the smallest deviation from the
long-term CDF. The twelve TMMs selected from different years
were used for the formulation of a TMY for Hong Kong. Details of
the selection procedures can be found in the work of Chan et al. [1].
This TMY weather file can be used together with a building energy
simulation program to evaluate the long-term building energy
performance.
In this study, the approach of a combination of a shift and
a stretch developed by Belcher et al. was adopted to morph the
temperature rise due to the UHI effect into the hourly dry bulb air
temperature of the existing Hong Kong TMY weather file. Table 1
lists the values of Dxm, am and hxoim of the six cooling months
(MayeOctober) which were calculated by using the measured UHIIs
from field measurements. In this study, Dxm is the monthly mean of
the hourly measured UHIIs. As seen in Table 1, the values range from
1.13  C to 1.74  C. The fractional change, am, was calculated by
dividing the difference between monthly maximum UHII and
monthly minimum UHII by the difference between mean daily
maximum and mean daily minimum air temperature of the original
TMY weather file. hxoim is the monthly mean of the hourly dry bulb
air temperature in month m of the original TMY weather file. With
the measured data of UHIIs and the morphing procedures outlined
above, a modified TMY weather file for Hong Kong was developed, Fig. 8. Plan view of a typical office building and a residential flat. (a) A typical office
taking into account of the UHI effect of the summer season. building, (b) a typical residential flat.

3. Evaluation of energy performance of buildings with UHI

effect
3.1. Description of the model buildings
For investigating the impact of the UHI effect on building energy
performance with the modified TMY weather file, a typical office
building and residential apartment had been modeled for the present
study. The office building is 40 stories high and fully air-conditioned,
with a plan view of 36 m  36 m as shown in Fig. 8(a). It is an open
plan office with four perimeter zones facing North, East, South and
West and a center zone. The floor-to-floor height is 3.4 m. The
external façade has a window-to-wall ratio of 0.6. The indoor design
air temperature is 25.5  C. Air-cooled chillers and a variable air
volume system were adopted in this office building model.
For the residential apartment, a 3-bedroom residential flat of
area 95 m2 with a rectangular living/dining room, which is a typical
design arrangement in Hong Kong, was chosen (Fig. 8(b)). There is
no self shading from adjacent blocks. In Hong Kong, a window-
mounted type air-conditioner is usually used in the bedrooms of
residential apartments while a split-type air-conditioner is widely
adopted in the living/dining rooms. Supply of fresh air is mainly
enhanced through the operation of an exhaust fan in the bathroom.
Information on the typical construction materials and other design
data of the air-conditioning (A/C) system for both the office
building and residential flat in this study are listed in Table 2 [19].
The hourly cooling energy of the A/C system in these two building
models was evaluated by using a renowned building energy simu-
lation program EnergyPlus, developed by the US Department of
Energy [20]. It is recognized that outdoor air temperature, wind
speed as well as solar radiation incident on building façade are
height dependent. Outdoor air temperature decreases with height,
while wind speed increases with height. Identical building flats
located at different levels of a building may receive different heat
gains, leading to different cooling demands. Nowadays, most widely
adopted building energy simulation programs are capable of simu-
lating the shading effect by adjacent building blocks. As a result,
different amounts of solar radiation received by identical flats at
different levels of a building can be accurately determined. More-
over, there is algorithm incorporated in existing building energy
simulation programs for calculating the variation of outdoor air
temperature and wind speed as a function of height above the
ground. Therefore, the vertical profiles of outdoor air temperature
and wind speed are not covered in this study.
The original and modified TMY hourly weather files were used as
the weather input in the simulations. The analysis and comparison of
the simulation results will be detailed in the next section.
2440 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441

Table 2
Design data of construction materials and air-conditioning system in a typical office
building and residential flat.

Office building Residential flat

External wall 5 mm mosaic tile 5 mm mosaic tile (outer layer)
construction (outer layer)
20 mm sand 10 mm cement
render
125 mm heavy 100 mm heavy concrete
concrete
10 mm gypsum 10 mm gypsum plastering (inner
plastering layer)
1 mm wall paper
(inner layer)

Gross floor area 1296 m2/floor 95 m2/flat

Equipment power 25 W/m2 142 W/room
intensity
Lighting power 17 W/m2 14 W/m2
intensity
Indoor design 25.5  C 25.5  C
temperature
Occupancy intensity 8 m2/person 4 persons/flat
Outdoor fresh air 8 l/s/person Infiltration rate: 0.5 air change/h
requirement (No dedicated fresh air supply)
Operating hours of air- 9:00am to 1:00pm to 10:00pm (living/dining
conditioning system 6:00pm room)
10:00pm to 7:00am (bedroom)

3.2. Result and discussion

In Hong Kong, due to the temperate climate conditions in the

winter season, space heating is not a basic provision in most
modern buildings. On the other hand, cooling demands are
generally required from May to October with the peak demand in
July. Therefore, in this study, the investigation was focused on the
cooling energy of the office and residential buildings in the summer
months. Computer simulations of hourly building cooling energy
use were carried out. The results are plotted in Figs. 9 and 10 to
compare the monthly A/C electricity consumption for the office
building and residential apartment, under rural and urban city
climatic conditions, respectively.
As shown in Fig. 9, the office building consumes more electrical
energy of its A/C system under the impact of the UHI effect, starting
from 3.8% in May up to a peak value of 15.3% in July. Similar patterns
of A/C electricity consumption were found from the simulation
results in both the living/dining room and bedroom of a residential
apartment as indicated in Fig. 10. The percentages of increase are
Fig. 9. Comparison of A/C electricity consumption of an office building.
Fig. 10. Comparison of A/C electricity consumption of a residential flat. (a) Living/
dining room, (b) bedroom.
from 7.9% to 11.7% in the living/dining room while a range from 9.5%
to 13.3% was found in the bedroom. Relatively lower values of 3.8%
and 3.4% were found during the months of May and October,
respectively, for the office building (Fig. 9) as compared to the
bedroom of the residential apartment (9.5% in May and 9.9% in
October, Fig. 10(b)). This is because, during the mild season, the
cooling load in the office building due to heat sources including
electric lamps, office equipment and outdoor fresh air are dominant
and much higher than that transferred from the outdoor environ-
ment and solar radiation. As a result, the impact of UHI on the
cooling load of an office building in May and October is less
significant than that in other peak summer months. By contrast, the
outdoor air temperature is a dominant factor influencing heat gain
as well as the cooling load in residential apartments, especially the
bedroom in which there is no heat source of electric lamp or
equipment during the night, while a small amount of outdoor fresh
air is mainly provided by infiltration or exhaust fan. This analysis
was proved by the simulation results as indicated in Fig. 10(b). As
shown, the percentage of increased A/C consumption in the
bedroom caused by UHI effect in the mild season (May and
October) is close to 10% which is just about 4% below the peak value
of 13.3% occurring in July. Nevertheless, through building energy
computer simulations using the modified TMY weather file, taking
into account the impact of the UHI effect, it reveals that there is
a significant increase in building cooling demand in both office and
residential buildings under the climatic conditions of Hong Kong.
 A.L.S. Chan / Building and Environment 46 (2011) 2434e2441
4. Conclusion
UHI effects cause the urban city to become significantly warmer
than the rural areas. As the meteorological data used to develop the
TMY weather dataset are mainly obtained from measured data in
rural weather stations, it cannot give an accurate evaluation of
building energy performance. This study has revealed that the
cooling demands in both office and residential buildings located in
urban areas will be underestimated if using the current TMY
weather dataset. Through site measurement and morphing
procedures, a modified TMY weather file has been developed.
Building energy simulations have been performed to evaluate the
cooling loads of a modeled office building and residential flat. It
determines that there is about a 10% increase in the cooling
demand in the summer months for buildings located in the urban
city as compared to buildings in rural areas. The results also imply
that there is a potential to reduce building energy consumption as
well as greenhouse gas emissions by a maximum of around 10% by
various UHI mitigation measures. Examples of UHI mitigation
methods confirmed by other researchers include surface albedo,
sky view factor, green density ratio, etc. The present investigation is
restricted to the impact of UHI in the summer season only. The
study is being continued to measure the UHII in the winter months
(NovembereMarch) to investigate its effect on the heating demand
in residential buildings during the nighttime in the winter season.
Acknowledgment
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant
from CityU (Project No. 7002495).
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