Solar Energy as a Design Parameter in Urban Planning

Abstract

By the end of 2020, all EU member states need to ensure that all newly constructed buildings consume ‘nearly zero’ energy and that their energy needs are produced locally as much as possible and with renewable sources; a concept called nearly Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB). At the same time, more and more people live in cities, where the access to local renewable energy sources –wind and solar- is limited. Planning for such ZEBs in cities is therefore a difficult task since urban planners often do not have the technical knowledge to quantify the contribution of solar energy in their urban plans. This study shows an exploration of geometrical forms of urban blocks and the potential of solar energy to the local production of energy. Simulations were performed with the program Ecotect for the city of Lund in southern Sweden. It was found that the impact of the geometry form on the potential of solar energy was significant (up to twice as much) and some forms were found to be less sensitive for different orientations. When the urban blocks were surrounded by other geometry, which resembles the situation of a dense city, the contribution of solar energy decreased by 10-75%.