Cool roofs could be most effective at reducing outdoor urban
temperatures in London (United Kingdom) compared with other roof top and
vegetation interventions: a mesoscale urban climate modeling study
Abstract
Comprehensive studies comparing impacts of building and street levels
interventions on air temperature at metropolitan scales are still
lacking despite increased urban heat-related mortality and morbidity. We
therefore model the impact of 9 interventions on air temperatures at 2 m
during 2 hot days from the summer 2018 in the Greater London Authority
area using the WRF BEP-BEM climate model. We find that on average cool
roofs most effectively reduce temperatures
($\sim$~-1.2~$^\circ$C),
outperforming green roofs
($\sim$~0~$^\circ$C),
solar panels
($\sim$~-0.5~$^\circ$C)
and street level vegetation
($\sim$~-0.3~$^\circ$C).
Application of air conditioning across London (United Kingdom) increases
air temperatures by
$\sim$~+0.15~$^\circ$C.
A practicable deployment of solar panels could cover its related
energetic consumption. Current practicable deployments of green roofs
and solar panels are ineffective at large scale reduction of
temperatures. We provide a detailed decomposition of the surface energy
balance to explain changes in air temperature and guide future
decision-making.