Assessment of the Impact of Climate Change on the Performance of Residential Buildings in New Zealand

Localised and context-specific analyses are necessary to develop effective strategies for mitigating the potential effects of climate change on building energy consumption. This research aimed to analyse the potential impact of current and future climate change scenarios on the heating and cooling requirements of residential buildings across different regions in New Zealand. The study compared the effect of changes in building codes on the energy consumption of residential buildings in future years, based on the New Zealand building code update in 2021. The revision of R-values in the building codes will influence the dominant cooling and heating demands in Auckland, while in Wellington and Christchurch, the heating load will continue to exceed the cooling load. The findings revealed that heating would remain the primary thermal load for residential buildings in Wellington and Christchurch. However, in Auckland, there will be a shift from heating to cooling as the main thermal load in the future. Statistical downscaling was used to generate future weather data for six cities located in different climatic zones using two concentration pathways (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5). The findings revealed substantial changes in the thermal performance of residential buildings, with an expected increase in cooling load and a decrease in heating load. The predicted changes in thermal load ranged from 2.7 kWh/m2 in Hamilton to 11.6 kWh/m2 in Queenstown, with Auckland showing the maximum difference of 3 kWh/m2 by 2090. Thermal load is expected to increase in warmer climatic zones such as Auckland and decrease in colder climatic zones such as Queenstown. The effect of urban heat island (UHI) was integrated into the energy simulation process to assess the impacts of urban microclimate on the energy consumption of a real residential building in Auckland, New Zealand. The study revealed that urban weather conditions and district characteristics result in an increase of around 4.35% in cooling load in summer and a decrease of 2.6% in heating load in winter. The findings indicated the significance of considering both current and future climate conditions in design and building codes and laying the groundwork for actions to ensure the resilience of buildings to climate change.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Jalali, Zahra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Shamseldin, Asaad

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/68941

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/68941