District-scale energy demand modeling and urban microclimate: A case study in The Netherlands

Abstract District-scale energy demand models are powerful tools to understand complex urban areas, however these models generally use average weather data from rural locations, thus overlooking the effects of the urban context on the local climate. In order to analyze the effects of urban microclimate on space cooling demand, this paper uses microclimate simulation results from ENVI-met as inputs to a district-scale energy demand model, the City Energy Analyst (CEA), to assess the performance of a proposed masterplan for a new residential district in Almere, the Netherlands.