Urban heat island reduces annual building energy consumption and temperature related mortality in severe cold region of China

The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon has gained increasing attention as it not only affects the energy consumption of buildings but also threatens the health of urban dwellers. In this study, we calculated the UHI intensity in major China cities across different climates based on the measured weather data of year 2019. The influences of UHI intensity on the building energy consumption and temperature-related mortalities were then quantified. Results show that the impact of UHI on urban dwellers is not always negative in terms of building energy consumption and temperature-related mortality. In most severe-cold-region cities in China, UHI reduces the annual building energy consumption caused by the cooling and heating load, because the amount of heating load reduced in winter is larger than the cooling load increased in summer. The annual temperature-related mortality is also reduced by UHI in certain cities. These reductions indicate that UHI has favourable effects in certain regions. Our findings indicate that detailed evaluation should be performed on a case-by-case basis to quantify the UHI effects on urban dwellers.