More extreme heat and bigger populations will dramatically change energy use in American cities by 2050, driving up the amount of electricity used to cool urban buildings per unit of floor area by at least 20% in some areas, according to research published Oct. 18 in Nature Communications.
More extreme heat and bigger populations will dramatically change energy use in American cities by 2050, driving up the amount of electricity used to cool urban buildings per unit of floor area by at least 20% in some areas, according to research published Oct. 18 in Nature Communications.
Commercial and residential buildings are among the nation’s major energy consumers, and they account for just under a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions when researchers consider the emissions associated with burning fossil fuels to provide buildings with electricity.
As a result, planning for future climate conditions will require understanding of how building energy use is likely to change with more extreme weather and populous cities, said lead study author Chenghao Wang, who worked on the research as a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Stanford University professor Rob Jackson.
Read More: Stanford University
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