Investigation of urban microclimate parameters in an urban center

The local climate of an urban area can be greatly affected by the urban thermo-physical and geometrical characteristics, anthropogenic activities and heat sources present in the area. A growing interest in microclimate issues has been raised as they represent important factors in achieving energy conservation and sustainability inside the cities, where a big amount of the population lives. This paper presents the analysis of microclimatic conditions in urban street canyons in a city of Northern Greece, Serres. A number of field measurements were carried out during summer 2011 aiming at investigation of the microclimate parameters that affect thermal conditions in the city's streets. The present study focused on the experimental investigation of wind characteristics (speed and direction) and thermal profile (air temperature distribution) of an area consisted by several building blocks in the city center. The data analysis concentrated at the differences that were observed inside the canyons, along different streets and the comparison between the microclimatic parameters in the urban center and the suburban area. Estimation of the cooling degree days for the area shows the increased energy needs of the surrounding buildings during the summer period. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.