Variation in the Irradiance on Facades According to Solar Access at Neighbourhood Level in Winter, Santiago. A Rationale for Public Policy in the Urban Planning

Abstract

Next COP25 will be held in Santiago city in 2019 and its slogan is Time for Action so the urban planning has something relevant to say. Given that cities and renewable energy are explicit thematic lines in the conference the current paper focus on that. Link between cities and solar energy affects stakeholders such as the real estate agents and community so they are both concerns of the public policy. Real estate agent needs to be aware of a technical matter that affects resident lives at the neighbourhood scale. To address climate change two approaches has been declared by IPCC: mitigation and adaptation measures. The former focus on reduction of CO in which building sector plays a fundamental role in this task. Solar energy is a source of clean energy for heating and lighting the buildings. Therefore, it might be protected from solar obstruction coming from building surrounding. The purpose of the study is to discuss and old concept as solar access in a new context real states development giving some quantitative and qualitative assessments on facades under and none solar obstructions. Methodology consists of daily monitoring of insolation on building facades besides of modelling and simulation in Nuoa neighbourhood in Santiago in winter. Results reveal that a significant reduction of intensity in radiation is observed in those circumstances. Obstruction and no obstruction are the scenes analysed to compare irradiation on building facades. In addition, a qualitative analysis is made based on residents perceptions. Urbanism normative about shadows cast are also analysed to set out current limitations and possibilities to improve the legal instrument in the future. Conclusions state that a new focus is recommended for the public policy: think in surrounding energy effects rather than the building alone if mitigation measures want to be applied for sustainable urban planning.