CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

ABSTRACTThe aim of this work is to advance the understanding of the solar potential of urban residential environments which, by their morphology, and the impact of urban trees, present values of irradiance that is very different from full solar collection. Morphological variables of urban settings and urban trees, a very distinctive feature of the Mendoza Metropolitan Area (MMA), have a fundamental impact on the feasibility of implementing strategies for solar energy utilization in urban environments. The results achieved will contribute, modify and gradually update urban and building legislation to implement higher levels of energy efficiency and minimum environmental impacts. This work proposes to study the potential of solar collection in urban environments, analyzing eleven urban configurations selected according to their building and urban morphological characteristics. Results obtained so farindicate that solar masking is critical for vertical surfaces, with a reduction of the available solar energy between 2% and 66% in the winter season. The first case corresponds to a high density homogeneous area, with wide street channels, at a third of building height, with little influence of surface shaded by the neighboring buildings and trees. In the second case, the impact of masking produced by the unleafed branches in winter is considerable and comes from species of first and second magnitude (10 m. high or more), constructions of low density and narrow street channels (13 to 16 m.). However, these drawbacks caused by urban trees are compensated by benefits in the warm season (Brager, et. al. 2001):controlling the intensity of the urban heat island, absorption of pollutants, cooling and humidifying the air through evapotranspiration, reducing thermal loads of buildings, occupancy of public open spaces, and an invaluable contribution to the urban aesthetic.

enviar mensaje