The effect of district heating and cooling on anthropogenic heat mitigation in the Tokyo metropolitan area

The consumer sector accounts for not a small portion of final energy consumption in major countries, and the growth over time is significant. For example, the energy consumption density in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is about 10 times higher than the national average, and there is concern about the impact of anthropogenic heat by enormous energy consumption in the city on the atmospheric environment.

Therefore, this study will evaluate the effect of suppressing the amount of anthropogenic heat by operating high-efficiency equipment, taking advantage of economies of scale, for district heating and cooling which centrally managed heat source equipment.

We estimated the 5-minute cooling demand for consumer buildings in August based on GIS data and meteorological data. In addition, the study developed a model that reproduces the operation at five-minute intervals of a district heating and cooling system. We compared the amount of anthropogenic heat by district heating and cooling with the amount of anthropogenic heat by air-conditioning in individual buildings, and determined a large gap, indicating the suppression effect of district heating and cooling on the amount of anthropogenic heat. On the other hand, analysis of the regional distribution of anthropogenic
heat revealed that anthropogenic heat is concentrated around district heating and cooling facilities, resulting in a large amount of anthropogenic heat, indicating the need for some measures to reduce the heat risk to pedestrians.