Examination of How Various Measures in Urban Districts Affect the Development of Low Carbon Cities

—A Case Study of Cooling Energy Savings in the City of Kawasaki—

Abstract

This study examined how various low-carbon measures in urban districts can reduce CO₂ emissions. Developing low-carbon cities requires taking into consideration various local conditions, including land use, building use, and climate. We developed a method to evaluate CO₂ reduction potential by using an urban canopy and an air-conditioning load calculation model. We applied our method to the city of Kawasaki to evaluate various low-carbon measures, such as highly reflective paints, rooftop greening, water-retentive pavement, etc. The results revealed that the introduction of solar insolation cover films would have the greatest effect. We estimate that the low-carbon measures evaluated in this study could decrease CO₂ emissions in Kawasaki by a total of about 120,000 t-CO₂.