Analysis of energy consumption in different European cities: the Adaptive Comfort Control Implemented Model (ACCIM) Considering Representative Concentration Pathways(RCP) scenarios

Abstract

Reports of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have set various greenhouse gasemissions scenarios, through which the evolution of the temperature of the planet can be estimatedthroughout the 21st century. The reduction of the emissions from the different activities carried out bymankind is crucial to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most significant activities is users’behaviour within buildings, particularly the use of Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning systems.Modifying users’ behaviour patterns to guarantee acceptable thermal conditions inside buildingscould lead to considerable energy saving percentages, and adaptive thermal comfort models couldbe an opportunity to achieve important savings. For this reason, this study analyzes the potentialto apply adaptive thermal comfort models to use artificial air-conditioning systems by modifyingsetpoint temperatures. The analysis was conducted in five major European cities (Barcelona, Berlin,Bern, Rome, and Vienna) and in five climate change scenarios in the year 2050. The results showedthat, in general, the energy saving achieved by adaptive strategies was larger in the cities with agreater cooling demand. Also, in both Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) of the FifthAssessment Report (AR5) considered, the energy saving were decreased in the cities of Barcelona andRome, with values lower than those of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) scenarios considered,whereas in the cities of Berlin, Bern, and Vienna, the saving in the RCP scenarios is greater than thosein the other scenarios.