Microclimate Mitigation by Means of Thermal-Energy Storage: a Case Study in Central Italy
Abstract
Urban design and local boundary conditions have been detected to significantly affect the local microclimate and, therefore, the environmental quality of urban areas. In this view, the purpose of the present work is to investigate the local microclimate variation in historic districts with respect to the surrounding areas situated in the same temperate climate zone. To this aim, four areas around a historical city center in Italy were monitored during summer 2015 and investigated through microclimate simulation in summer and winter conditions. After the experimental monitoring, that allowed to characterize the main microclimate parameters of each case study area, a calibrated numerical analysis was performed in order to assess the Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity of the historical district and the implementation passive mitigation techniques. Therefore, the effectiveness of thermal storage solutions as innovative UHI mitigation technique was studied by simulating the implementation of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) within (i) the buildings’ walls and (ii) the outdoor pavement of the historic neighborhood. Thermal benefits due to the application of phase change materials were detected both in summer and winter. In summer, the high-capacity PCMs integrated pavement is able to reduce the outdoor air temperature by a maximum of about -0.3 K. On the other hand, in winter, the increased thermal storage potential seems to mitigate the nighttime cooling.
Keywords
Urban heat island, Experimental monitoring, Numerical analysis, Microclimate simulation, Phase change materials