The impact of the Urban Heat Island in the energy consumption and overheating of domestic buildings in London

Considering the adaptive comfort approach, this article estimates if interior conditions in London’s naturally ventilated residential stock are comfortable under the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and predicts if climate change will further affect comfort levels. A discussion whether the UHI is currently saving or aggravating energy consumption in buildings is presented. The affection that climate change may have in the energy performance of buildings in the future is also estimated. The most representative household profiles in London have been modelled and simulated. Weather files for a few locations in the city have been used to estimate energy consumption and interior comfort conditions. Future conditions have been estimated using climate change predictions based in UKCP09. Results show that the UHI is currently saving energy in London and the interior conditions are comfortable for the average households. Future climate change estimations show that occupants will adapt to changing conditions and archetypes' resilience can avoid overheating until 2080 only relying in natural ventilation. Critical occupation profiles more prone to suffer overheating have also been simulated.