Impact of street canyon typology on building’s peak cooling energy demand: A parametric analysis using orthogonal experiment

•We integrated ENVI-met and EnergyPlus to study urban canyon’s effect on cooling energy.•We simultaneously considered street canyon geometry and roadside vegetation effect.•Street’s height-to-width ratio found to be crucial factor on peak building cooling demand.•Roadside greenery’s cooling effect interacts with the sectional geometry of street canyon.•Urban street design recommendations to minimize the peak cooling demand were proposed. Urban street geometry and ways of street greening affect the microclimate in street canyons, which affects the cooling energy consumption of the surrounding buildings of the streets. This study employs microclimate simulation software ENVI-met and building energy simulation tool EnergyPlus, takes Taipei’s hot-and-humid climatic region as an example, to explore how street canyon typology and street greening influence the peak cooling electricity consumption of buildings during the hottest weather conditions as a reference for urban planners to achieve the urban form of low energy consumption. The results show that the streets' height-to-width ratio (H/W) produces the most significant effect on the energy consumption of buildings, followed by street orientation and density of roadside vegetation. The peak cooling energy consumption of buildings of N-S oriented streets consume 16.9% more energy than SW-NE streets, while buildings in street canyons whose H/W=0.5 consume 37.13% more energy than those in street canyons whose H/W=2.0. The energy-conserving effects of street greening factors on street cooling and peak electricity consumption are more significant in streets with shallow street canyons than in those with deeper street canyons. It suggests that in the case of shallow street canyons lacking buildings to provide shading, roadside trees are needed to improve the microclimate, to achieve energy conservation for buildings.