Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Energy consumption based on heating/cooling degree days within the urban environment of Athens, Greece

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The degree-day method is considered to be a fundamental and a rather simple method to estimate heating and cooling energy demand. This study aims in a detailed and accurate assessment of cooling and heating degree days in different locations within the Greater Athens area (GAA), Greece. To achieve this goal, hourly values of air temperature from eight different locations within the GAA, covering the period 2001–2005, were used. Thus, the monthly and the annual number of cooling and heating degree days for each one of the examined locations could be estimated separately. Furthermore, an effort is made to evaluate the energy consumption for a specific building, based on the degree-day method, to indicate the impact of the canopy layer urban heat island on neighboring regions within the GAA. Results reveal that there is great spatial variability of energy demand and energy consumption along with significant differences in expenses for heating and cooling among neighboring regions within the GAA. Finally, regarding the energy demands of buildings, it is important to take into account intra-urban variability of canopy layer climates against an ensemble mean throughout the city, because the latter can result in inaccurate estimations and conclusions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abreu-Harbich LV, Labaki LC, Matzarakis A (2014) Thermal bioclimate in idealized urban street canyons in Campinas, Brazil. Theor Appl Climatol 115:333–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali-Toudert F, Mayer H (2007) Effects of asymmetry, galleries, overhanging façades and vegetation on thermal comfort in urban street canyons. Sol Energy 81(6):742–754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ASHRAE Fundamentals Handbook-SI Edition (2001) Chapter 31: energy estimating and modeling methods. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, GA

  • Balaras CA, Gaglia A, Georgopoulou E, Mirasgedis S, Sarafidis Y, Lalas DP (2007) European residential buildings and empirical assessment of the Hellenic building stock, energy consumption, emissions and potential energy savings. Build Environ 42:1298–1314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christenson M, Manz H, Gyalistras D (2006) Climate warming impact on degree-days and building energy demand in Switzerland. Energ Convers Manag 47:671–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CIBSE (2006) The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, UK. Degree-days: theory and application. TM41: 2006. Registered Charity Number 278104 (ISBN-10: 1-903287-76-6. ISBN-13: 978-1-903287-76-7). Available at (2013): http://www.degreedaysforfree.co.uk/pdf/TM41.pdf

  • Cross HZ, Zuber MS (1972) Prediction of flowering dates in maize based on different methods of estimating thermal units. Agron J 64:351–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dascalaki EG, Droutsa KG, Balaras CA, Kontoyiannidis S (2011) Building typologies as a tool for assessing the energy performance of residential buildings—a case study for the Hellenic building stock. Energ Build 43:3400–3409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EC (2004) European Union energy and transport in figures—2004 edition, part 2: energy. Brussels: Directorate General for Energy and Transport, European Commission; 2004

  • Emmanuel R, Rosenlund H, Johansson E (2007) Urban shading—a design option for the tropics? A study in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Int J Climatol 27(14):1995–2004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelegenis JJ (2009) A simplified quadratic expression for the approximate estimation of heating degree-days to any base temperature. Appl Energ 86:1986–1994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giannakopoulos C, Psiloglou BE (2006) Trends in energy load demand for Athens, Greece: weather and non-weather related factors. Clim Res 21:97–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilmore EC, Rogers JS (1958) Heat units as a method of measuring maturity in corn. Agron J 50(61):1–615

    Google Scholar 

  • Givoni B (1989) Urban design in different climates. WMO Technical Report 346

  • GSA (2012). Census 2011. Greek Statistical Authority. Greek Republic. http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/General/A1602_SAM01_DT_DC_00_2011_02_F_GR.pdf (in Greek)

  • Guntermann APE (1982) A simplified degree-day method for commercial and industrial buildings. ASHRAE 24:29–32

    Google Scholar 

  • HMD (2004) National energy balance data. Athens: Hellenic Ministry for Development; 2004 (in Hellenic)

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. An assessment of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. International Panel on Climate Change-IPCC Plenary XXVII (Valencia, Spain, 12-17 November 2007), page 36

  • Klepper B, Belford RK, Rickman RW (1984) Root and shoot development in winter wheat. Agron J 76:117–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolokotroni M, Davies M, Croxford B, Bhuiyan S, Mavrogianni A (2010) A validated methodology for the prediction of heating and cooling energy demand for buildings within the Urban Heat Island: case-study of London. Sol Energy 84:2246–2255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larissi IK, Antoniou A, Nastos PT, Paliatsos AG (2010) The role of wind in the configuration of the ambient air quality in Athens, Greece. Fresen Environ Bull 19:1989–1996

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowry W (1977) Empirical estimation of urban effects on climate: a problem analysis. J Appl Meteorol 16:129–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinaitis V (1998) Analytic calculation of degree-days for the regulated heating season. Energy Build 28:185–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matzarakis A, Balafoutis C (2004) Heating degree-days over Greece as an index of energy consumption. Int J Climatol 24:1817–1828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matzarakis A, Nastos PT (2011) Human-biometeorological assessment of heat waves in Athens. Theor Appl Climatol 105:99–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMaster GS, Wilhelm WW (1997) Growing degree-days: one equation, two interpretations. Agr For Meteorol 87:291–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills G (1999) Urban climatology and urban design. ICB-ICUC’99: 15th international congress of biometeorology and the international conference on urban climatology, Sydney, Australia, pp. 541–544

  • Mirasgedis S, Sarafidis Y, Georgopoulou E, Lalas DP, Moschovits M, Karagiannis F, Papakonstantinou D (2006) Models for mid-term electricity demand forecasting incorporating weather influences. Energy 31:208–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nastos PT, Matzarakis A (2008) Variability of tropical days over Greece within the second half of the twentieth century. Theor Appl Climatol 93:75–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (NCEP-CFS Reanalysis). Available at (2013) http://cfs.ncep.noaa.gov/cfsr/

  • Nunez M, Oke TR (1977) The energy balance of an urban canyon. J Appl Meteorol 16:11–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oke TR (1982) The energetic basis of urban heat island. J Royal Meteorol Soc 108(455):1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Papakostas K, Kyriakis N (2005) Heating and cooling degree-hours for Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. Renew Energy 30:1873–1880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papakostas K, Mavromatis T, Kyriakis N (2010) Impact of the ambient temperature rise on the energy consumption for heating and cooling in residential buildings of Greece. Renew Energy 35:1376–1379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pardo A, Meneu V, Valor E (2002) Temperature and seasonality influences on Spanish electricity load. Energy Econ 24:55–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry KB, Wehner TC, Johnson GL (1986) Comparison of 14 methods to determine heat unit requirements for cucumber harvest. Hort Sci 21:419–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Philandras CM, Metaxas DA, Nastos PT (1999) Climate variability and urbanization in Athens. Theor Appl Climatol 63:65–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Psiloglou BS, Giannakopoulos C, Majithia S, Petrakis M (2009) Factors affecting electricity demand in Athens, Greece and London, UK: a comparative assessment. Energy 34:1855–1863

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russelle MP, Wilhelm WW, Olson RA, Power JF (1984) Growth analysis based on degree days. Crop Sci 24:28–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sailor DJ (2001) Relating residential and commercial sector electricity loads to climate-evaluating state level sensitivities and vulnerabilities. Energy 26:645–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santamouris M, Papanikolaou N, Koronakis I, Livada I, Asimakopoulos D (1999) Thermal and air flow characteristics in a deep pedestrian canyon under hot weather conditions. Atmos Environ 33:4503–4521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stathopoulou M, Cartalis C, Chrysoulakis N (2005) Using midday surface temperature to estimate cooling degree-days from NOAA-AVHRR thermal infrared data: an application for Athens, Greece. Sol Energy 80:414–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart ID, Oke TR (2012) Local climate zones for urban temperature studies. B Am Meteorol Soc 93:1879–1900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Technical Chamber of Greece, 2010, available at (2013) http://infracam.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/totee-parametroi20en-7-06-10-final.pdf

  • Tselepidaki I, Santamouris M, Asimakopoulos DN, Kontoyiannidis S (1994) On the variability of cooling degree-days in an urban environment: application to Athens, Greece. Energ Build 21:93–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valor E, Meneu V, Caselles V (2001) Daily air temperature and electricity load in Spain. J Appl Meteorol 40:1413–1421

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus, 250 Thivon and P. Ralli Str., 122 44, Aigaleo, Greece

    K. P. Moustris & P. T. Zacharia

  2. Laboratory of Climatology and Atmospheric Environment, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis, 15784, Athens, Greece

    P. T. Nastos

  3. Laboratory of Meteorology, Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, 451 10, Ioannina, Greece

    A. Bartzokas

  4. Laboratory of Environmental Technology, Department of Electronic-Computer Systems Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus, 250 Thivon and P. Ralli Str., 122 44, Aigaleo, Greece

    I. K. Larissi & A. G. Paliatsos

Authors
  1. K. P. Moustris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. T. Nastos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Bartzokas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. I. K. Larissi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P. T. Zacharia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A. G. Paliatsos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. T. Nastos.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moustris, K.P., Nastos, P.T., Bartzokas, A. et al. Energy consumption based on heating/cooling degree days within the urban environment of Athens, Greece. Theor Appl Climatol 122, 517–529 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1308-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1308-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation