Vertical meteorological patterns and their impact on the energy demand of tall buildings

In accordance with the developing economy and growing population, an increasing number
of tall buildings have been constructed over the last 20 years In 2017, there were 144 new
buildings worldwide that were 200 m or greater in height; 50% of these buildings were in
China. Due to the vertical gradient impact of meteorological parameters, the energy
performance of tall buildings differs from that of general buildings. Few studies exist on
vertical meteorological changes using measured data at different heights . Most studies on
dynamic energy simulation simulate meteorological parameters using models. This study
explores vertical meteorological patterns using hourly dry bulb temperature, relative
humidity, and wind speed data from 2007 to 2017 for a 325 m meteorological tower in Beijing.
The temperature decreased significantly with increasing altitude (~0.9 °C per 100 m )), while
the daily temperature difference decreased with increasing altitude . The absolute humidity
did not change significantly with height. The wind speed increased with altitude at approximately 2 m/s per 100 m. The building simulation showed that the annual heating load at a height of 320 m increased by 85% from that at 8 m; the annual cooling load decreased by 20%. Such significant differences in thermal loads for 300 m tall buildings confirm the need to consider vertical meteorological differences in building performance simulations for tall building.s A greater number of measurement points at different heights improve the simulation accuracy. Guidance on selecting the heights for vertical metrological measurements is provided based on the influences of building thermal loads.