Anthropogenic heat, the heat emitted to the atmosphere through human activities, can lead to increased ambient temperature, contribute to the urban heat island effect, and exacerbate the impact of global climate change. To combat global climate change, building stock electrification has been identified as a critical approach to reduce GHG emissions. Numerous studies have analyzed the feasibility and potential energy and GHG reductions due to electrification, however, its impact on building anthropogenic heat at the city scale remains largely unknown.

This study aims to investigate how the electrification of Los Angeles city building stock affects building anthropogenic heat in summer, under both the current and future climate. With a bottom-up approach, the study uses high-fidelity climate data at a 450-m scale from WRF-UCM, a well-established urban micro-climate modeling framework to simulate the local microclimate dynamics. The building stock is classified by building type and vintage into 54 archetypes and simulated with a prototype building model for each archetype, using EnergyPlus. Hourly building AH data for different electrification and climate change scenarios will be created and published.

The results will provide policymakers with a full picture of the impact of electrification under climate change both on GHG and building AH. It helps shed light on the role of AH in urban micro-climate dynamics during extreme heat events and assists local governments in planning short-term emergency responses during heat waves and developing long-term electrification and mitigation strategies to reduce building AH and the magnitude of the AH-temperature feedback loop.