MSGID: 1:317/3 643633ee
PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08
TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08
 Cities will need more resilient electricity networks to cope with
extreme weather 

  Date:
      April 11, 2023
  Source:
      Lund University
  Summary:
      Dense urban areas amplify the effects of higher temperatures, due
      to the phenomenon of heat islands in cities. This makes cities
      more vulnerable to extreme climate events. Large investments in
      the electricity network will be necessary to cool us down during
      heatwaves and keep us warm during cold snaps, according to a
      new study.


      Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email
FULL STORY
==========================================================================
Dense urban areas amplify the effects of higher temperatures, due to the
phenomenon of heat islands in cities. This makes cities more vulnerable
to extreme climate events. Large investments in the electricity network
will be necessary to cool us down during heatwaves and keep us warm during
cold snaps, according to a new study led by Lund University in Sweden.


==========================================================================
"Unless we account for extreme climate events and continued urbanisation,
the reliability of electricity supply will fall by up to 30%. An
additional outlay of 20-60 per cent will be required during the energy
transition in order to guarantee that cities can cope with different
kinds of climate," says Vahid Nik, Professor of Building Physics at Lund
University and one of the authors of the article in Nature Energy.

The study presents a modelling platform that ties together climate,
building and energy system models in order to facilitate simulation
and evaluation of cities' energy transition. The aim is to secure the
cities' resilience against future climate changes at the same time as
densification of urban areas is taking place. In particular, researchers
have looked closely at extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves and cold
snaps) by producing simulations of urban microclimates.

"Our results show that high density areas give rise to a phenomenon called
urban heat islands, which make cities more vulnerable to the effects of
extreme climate events, particularly in southern Europe. For example,
the outdoor temperature can rise by 17% while the wind speed falls by
61%. Urban densification -- a recommended development strategy in order
to reach the UN's energy and climate goals -- could make the electricity
network more vulnerable.

This must be taken into consideration when designing urban energy systems,
says Kavan Javanroodi, Assistant Professor in Building and Urban Physics.

"The framework we have developed connects future climate models to
buildings and energy systems at city level, taking the urban microclimate
into account.

For the first time, we are getting to grips with several challenges around
the issues of future climate uncertainty and extreme weather situations,
focussing in particular on what are known as 'HILP' or High Impact Low
Probability events," says Vahid Nik.

There is still a large gap between future climate modelling and building
and energy analyses and their links to one another. According to Vahid
Nik, the model now being developed makes a great contribution to closing
that gap.

"Our results answer questions like 'how big an effect will extreme weather
events have in the future, given the predicted pace of urbanisation and
several different future climate scenarios?', 'how do we take them and
the connections between them into account?' and 'how does the nature of
urban development contribute to exacerbating or mitigating the effects
of extreme events at regional and municipal level?' " The results
show that the peaks in demand in the energy system increase more than
previously thought when extreme microclimates are taken into account,
for example with an increase in cooling demand for 68% in Stockholm and
43% in Madrid on the hottest day of the year. Not considering this can
lead to incorrect estimates of cities' energy requirements, which can
turn into power shortage and even blackouts.

"There is a marked deviation between the heat and cooling requirements
shown in today's urban climate models, compared to the outcomes of our
calculations when urban morphology, the physical design of the city,
is more complex. For example, if we fail to take into account the urban
climate in Madrid, we could underestimate the need for cooling by around
28%," says Kavan Javanroodi.

Vahid Nik explains that an increasing number of countries have become
interested in extreme weather events, energy issues and the impact on
public health. At the same time, there are no methods of quantifying the
effects of climate change and planning for adapting to them, especially
when it comes to extreme weather events and climate variations across
space and time.

"Our efforts can contribute to making societies more prepared for climate
change. Future research should aim to examine the relationship between
urban density and climate change in energy forecasts. Furthermore, we
ought to develop more innovative methods of increasing energy flexibility
and climate resilience in cities, which is a major focus of research
for our team at the moment," says Vahid Nik.

    * RELATED_TOPICS
          o Matter_&_Energy
                # Energy_Technology # Physics # Thermodynamics
          o Earth_&_Climate
                # Weather # Global_Warming # Climate
          o Science_&_Society
                # Energy_Issues # Environmental_Policies #
                Resource_Shortage
    * RELATED_TERMS
          o Urban_planning o Electricity_generation o Urbanization o
          Smog o Hurricane o Winter_storm o Humidity o Climate

==========================================================================
Story Source: Materials provided by Lund_University. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


==========================================================================
Journal Reference:
   1. A. T. D. Perera, Kavan Javanroodi, Dasaraden Mauree, Vahid M. Nik,
   Pietro
      Florio, Tianzhen Hong, Deliang Chen. Challenges resulting from urban
      density and climate change for the EU energy transition. Nature
      Energy, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41560-023-01232-9
==========================================================================

Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230411105903.htm

--- up 1 year, 6 weeks, 1 day, 10 hours, 50 minutes
 * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)
SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 226/30 227/114 229/110
SEEN-BY: 229/111 112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 292/854 298/25
SEEN-BY: 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45
PATH: 317/3 229/426