TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimizing urban irrigation schemes for the trade-off between energy and water consumption
AU - Yang, Jiachuan
AU - Wang, Zhihua
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number CBET-1435881 . Field measurement by the eddy-covariance tower at Maryvale, West Phoenix sponsored by NSF under grant EF-1049251 is acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/11/15
Y1 - 2015/11/15
N2 - Irrigation of green spaces in cities helps to reduce thermal stress and building energy consumption in hot seasons, but requires an intricate balance between energy and water resource usage. While the objective for agricultural irrigation is focused on the yield of produces, urban irrigation needs a new paradigm. In this study, a cutting-edge urban canopy model is applied to assess the impact of a variety of controlled irrigation schemes for Phoenix. Results show that by increasing surface moisture availability for evapotranspiration, urban irrigation has a cooling effect on the built environment throughout the year. Maximum reduction in canyon air temperature can be more than 3°C in summer as compared to the condition without irrigation. Among all investigated schemes, the soil-temperature-controlled irrigation is the most efficient in reducing the annual building energy consumption and the total cost. The total annual saving depends on the controlling soil temperature for irrigation activation, and can be up to about $1.19 m-2 wall area as compared to the current irrigation practice. In addition, the scheme can substantially enhance outdoor thermal comfort of pedestrians in summers.
AB - Irrigation of green spaces in cities helps to reduce thermal stress and building energy consumption in hot seasons, but requires an intricate balance between energy and water resource usage. While the objective for agricultural irrigation is focused on the yield of produces, urban irrigation needs a new paradigm. In this study, a cutting-edge urban canopy model is applied to assess the impact of a variety of controlled irrigation schemes for Phoenix. Results show that by increasing surface moisture availability for evapotranspiration, urban irrigation has a cooling effect on the built environment throughout the year. Maximum reduction in canyon air temperature can be more than 3°C in summer as compared to the condition without irrigation. Among all investigated schemes, the soil-temperature-controlled irrigation is the most efficient in reducing the annual building energy consumption and the total cost. The total annual saving depends on the controlling soil temperature for irrigation activation, and can be up to about $1.19 m-2 wall area as compared to the current irrigation practice. In addition, the scheme can substantially enhance outdoor thermal comfort of pedestrians in summers.
KW - Building energy efficiency
KW - Energy-water trade-off
KW - Environmental sustainability
KW - Urban canopy model
KW - Urban irrigation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.08.045
DO - 10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.08.045
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84941026863
SN - 0378-7788
VL - 107
SP - 335
EP - 344
JO - Energy and Buildings
JF - Energy and Buildings
ER -