City-scale energetics: window on adaptive thermal insulation in North American cities.

ABSTRACT: Previous research demonstrated that cities are similar to individual mammals in their relationship between the rate of energy use for heating and outdoor air temperature (T_a). At T_as requiring heating of indoor living spaces, the energy-T_a plot of a city contains information on city-wide thermal insulation (I), making it possible to quantify city-wide I by use of the city as the unit of measure. We develop methods for extracting this insulation information, deriving the methods from prior research on mammals. Using these methods, we address the question: in North America, are cities built in particularly cold locations constructed in ways that provide greater thermal insulation than ones built in thermally more moderate locations? Using data for 42 small an

SUBMITTER: Hill RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8816447 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature