Buildings are a main contributor to global energy consumption, with urban form significantly affecting their energy use. To quantify these effects, many studies relied on simulated data for limited buildings or empirical data at coarse temporal scales (monthly or yearly). However, few studies conducted large-scale empirical analyses of hourly consumption. In this paper, we empirically evaluate the impacts of urban form on energy consumption across multiple temporal scales (hourly, daily, monthly, and daily peak) for residential and commercial buildings in Santa Clara, CA. Using population density as a proxy for urban form, we built regression models and analyzed non-linear relationships and interaction effects. Results show that energy use intensity (EUI) varies non-linearly and significantly with population density, building size, and building use type. By increasing population density by one level , hourly EUI could drop by up to 32%, 36%, and 74% for single-family residential, multi-family residential, and commercial buildings respectively. The trends and magnitudes are consistent across temporal scales for the same building use type and population density level. These findings can inform decision-making regarding land use and urban planning for decarbonization goals and demand-side management programs.
AhmadianESodagarBBinghamC, et al. (2021) Effect of urban built form and density on building energy performance in temperate climates. Energy and Buildings236: 110762.
2.
AhnYSohnD-W (2019) The effect of neighbourhood-level urban form on residential building energy use: a GIS-based model using building energy benchmarking data in Seattle. Energy and Buildings196: 124–133.
3.
AsfourOSAlshawafES (2015) Effect of housing density on energy efficiency of buildings located in hot climates. Energy and Buildings91: 131–138.
4.
BrownMALoganE (2008) The Residential Energy and Carbon Footprints of the 100 Largest U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Atlanta, GA: School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 79.
5.
ChatzipoulkaCCompagnonRNikolopoulouM (2016) Urban geometry and solar availability on façades and ground of real urban forms: using London as a case study. Solar Energy138: 53–66.
6.
ChenLHangJSandbergM, et al. (2017) The impacts of building height variations and building packing densities on flow adjustment and city breathability in idealized urban models. Building and Environment118: 344–361.
7.
ChengVSteemersKMontavonM, et al. (2006) Urban Form, Density and Solar Potential. In: The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture,2006.
8.
DengJ-YWongNHZhengX (2016) The study of the effects of building arrangement on microclimate and energy demand of CBD in nanjing, China. Procedia Engineering169: 44–54.
9.
DohertyMNakanishiHBaiX, et al. (2009) Relationships between form, morphology, density and energy in urban environments. GEA Background Paper 28.
EwingRRongF (2008) The impact of urban form on U.S. residential energy use. Housing Policy Debate19(1): 1–30.
12.
HanYTaylorJEPiselloAL (2017) Exploring mutual shading and mutual reflection inter-building effects on building energy performance. Applied Energy185: 1556–1564.
13.
HuiSCM (2001) Low energy building design in high density urban cities. Renewable Energy24(3): 627–640.
KeirsteadJJenningsMSivakumarA (2012) A review of urban energy system models: approaches, challenges and opportunities. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews16(6): 3847–3866.
16.
KoY (2013) Urban form and residential energy use: a review of design principles and research findings. Journal of Planning Literature28(4): 327–351.
17.
KoYRadkeJD (2014) The effect of urban form and residential cooling energy use in Sacramento, California. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design41(4): 573–593.
18.
KontokostaCE (2012) Predicting Building Energy Efficiency Using New York City Benchmarking Data. In: Proceedings of theACEEE Summer Study on Energy Ef iciency in Buildings, 2012.
19.
KontokostaCETullC (2017) A data-driven predictive model of city-scale energy use in buildings. Applied Energy197: 303–317.
20.
KrügerEPearlmutterDRasiaF (2010) Evaluating the impact of canyon geometry and orientation on cooling loads in a high-mass building in a hot dry environment. Applied Energy87(6): 2068–2078.
21.
LiCHongTYanD (2014) An insight into actual energy use and its drivers in high-performance buildings. Applied Energy131: 394–410.
22.
LiCSongYKazaN (2018) Urban form and household electricity consumption: a multilevel study. Energy and Buildings158: 181–193.
23.
LiCSongYKazaN, et al. (2023) Explaining spatial variations in residential energy usage intensity in Chicago: the role of urban form and geomorphometry. Journal of Planning Education and Research43(2): 317–331. SAGE Publications Inc.
24.
MiottiMJainR (2022) A Computationally Efficient Algorithm to Enable Privacy Preserving Urban Energy Data Sharing under the “15/15” Rule. Energy Proceedings 28.
25.
Narimani AbarSSchulwitzMFaulstichM (2023) The impact of urban form and density on residential energy use: a systematic review. Sustainability15(22): 15685. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.
OurghiRAl-AnziAKrartiM (2007) A simplified analysis method to predict the impact of shape on annual energy use for office buildings. Energy Conversion and Management48(1): 300–305.
28.
PachecoROrdóñezJMartínezG (2012) Energy efficient design of building: a review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews16(6): 3559–3573.
29.
PerktoldJSeaboldSTaylorJ (2023) Statsmodels/Statsmodels: Release 0.14.0. Geneva: Zenodo. Available at: https://zenodo.org/record/593847 (accessed 13 May 2023).
30.
PiselloALTaylorJEXuX, et al. (2012) Inter-building effect: simulating the impact of a network of buildings on the accuracy of building energy performance predictions. Building and Environment58: 37–45.
31.
QuanSJLiC (2021) Urban form and building energy use: a systematic review of measures, mechanisms, and methodologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews139: 110662.
32.
RattiCBakerNSteemersK (2005) Energy consumption and urban texture. Energy and Buildings37(7): 762–776.
33.
ReschEBohneRAKvamsdalT, et al. (2016) Impact of urban density and building height on energy use in cities. Energy Procedia96: 800–814.
34.
RodePKeimCRobazzaG, et al. (2014) Cities and energy: urban morphology and residential heat-energy demand. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design41(1): 138–162.
35.
Rodríguez-ÁlvarezJ (2016) Urban Energy Index for Buildings (UEIB): a new method to evaluate the effect of urban form on buildings’ energy demand. Landscape and Urban Planning148: 170–187.
36.
SalvatiAMontiPCochRH, et al. (2019) Climatic performance of urban textures: analysis tools for a Mediterranean urban context. Energy and Buildings185: 162–179.
37.
SanaieianHRychtarikovaMTenpierikM, et al. (2014) Review of the impact of urban block form on thermal performance, solar access and ventilation. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews38: 551–560.
38.
ShishegarN (2013) Street design and urban microclimate: analyzing the effects of street geometry and orientation on airflow and solar access in urban canyons. Journal of Clean Energy Technologies1: 52–56.
39.
SilvaMOliveiraVLealV (2017) Urban form and energy demand: a review of energy-relevant urban attributes. Journal of Planning Literature32(4): 346–365.
40.
SteemersK (2003) Energy and the city: density, buildings and transport. Energy and Buildings12: 3–14.
41.
Strømann-AndersenJSattrupPA (2011) The urban canyon and building energy use: urban density versus daylight and passive solar gains. Energy and Buildings43(8): 2011–2020.
42.
TereciAOzkanSTEEickerU (2013) Energy benchmarking for residential buildings. Energy and Buildings60: 92–99.
43.
United Nations (2018) World Urbanization Prospects the 2018 Revision. New York: United Nations. Available at: https://population.un.org/wup
44.
van EschMMELoomanRHJde Bruin-HordijkGJ (2012) The effects of urban and building design parameters on solar access to the urban canyon and the potential for direct passive solar heating strategies. Energy and Buildings47: 189–200.
45.
WongNHJusufSKSyafiiNI, et al. (2011) Evaluation of the impact of the surrounding urban morphology on building energy consumption. Solar Energy85(1): 57–71.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
