Simulating the Thermal-Energy Performance of Buildings at the Urban Scale: Evaluation of Inter-Building Effects in Different Urban Configurations

The reduction of the energy use of buildings at the urban scale represents a key research and design topic with the purpose of developing specific methods for saving energy in buildings. These methods are often focused on the analysis of building thermal-energy behavior by considering the building as a stand-alone object. In this perspective, the thermal-energy behavior of two buildings in New York City is evaluated in this paper with varying urban contexts, in order to evaluate the Inter-Building Effect (IBE). The IBE analysis shows that the inaccuracy in neglecting the urban context in building modeling varies from 9.6 percent, to 71.9 percent. These results confirm that, in order to make accurate predictions about building thermal-energy performance in real urban contexts through dynamic simulation, the interaction between the building and the urban surrounding should be taken into account, in particular in dense urban areas.