Sensitivity Analysis of the Energy Needs of a Building Located in an Urban Canyon Under Mediterranean Climate

In a complex environment, such as an urban area, the built elements that make up the urban fabric strongly modify the microclimatic conditions by disturbing the wind and heat flow distribution between the different surfaces. Indeed, studying the urban microclimate has become a necessity for a better assessment of the building's energy performance and the guarantee of indoor thermal comfort. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the necessity of considering the urban microclimate in the prediction of the building energy needs. To this end, an integrated approach in the TRNSYS software validated in previous studies was used. The findings show firstly that the assessment of the building indoor thermal comfort requires to consider the microclimate close to the building, given its effect not only on the building energy needs but also on the indoor comfort of the occupants. Neglecting the urban microclimate can lead to inappropriate decisions for improving the thermal comfort in buildings. From the perspective of understanding the order in which the street canyon parameters affect the building energy needs, we performed a sensitivity study using Sobol's method, which provides the importance of considering the different street canyon parameters on the building energy needs.