Radiación solar en entornos urbanos forestados con clima seco. Caso: Área Metropolitana de Mendoza, Argentina

The aim of this work is to advance the understanding of the solar potential of urban residential environments which, by their morphology, and the impact of urban trees, present values of irradiance very different from full solar collection. Morphological variables of urban settings and urban trees, a very distinctive feature of the Mendoza Metropolitan Area (MMA), have a fundamental impact on the feasibility of implementing strategies for solar energy utilization in urban environments. The results achieved will contribute to modify and gradually update urban and building legislation to implement higher levels of energy efficiency and minimum environmental impacts. This work proposes to study the potential of solar collection in urban environments, analyzing eleven urban configurations selected according to their building and urban morphological characteristics. Methodologically, we have monitored the global solar irradiance on vertical plane on northern facades, completely sunny and partly sunny, affected by solid masking and arboreal masking. Results obtained so far indicate that solar masking is critical for vertical surfaces, with a reduction of the available solar energy between 2% and 66% in the winter season. However, these drawbacks caused by urban trees are compensated by benefits in the warm season: controlling the intensity of the urban heat island, absorption of pollutants, cooling and humidifying the air through evapotranspiration, reducing thermal loads of buildings, occupancy of public open spaces, and an invaluable contribution to the urban aesthetic.El objetivo del trabajo es producir avances en el conocimiento del potencial solar de entornos urbanos residenciales los que, por su morfología, y por la incidencia del arbolado urbano, presentan valores de irradiancia muy diferentes a las de pleno asoleamiento. Las variables morfológicas de las configuraciones urbano-edilicias y la arboleda urbana, una característica distintiva del Área Metropolitana de Mendoza (AMM), tienen una incidencia fundamental de primer orden en la factibilidad de implementar estrategias de aprovechamiento de la energía solar en medios urbanos. Los resultados alcanzados permitirán a futuro reformar y actualizar en forma progresiva los códigos urbanos y edilicios para implementar los máximos niveles de eficiencia energética y los mínimos impactos ambientales de las edificaciones urbanas. Este estudio propone la determinación del potencial de captación solar en ambientes urbanos considerando las variables morfológicas urbano-edilicias correspondientes a 11 configuraciones urbanas representativas del AMM. Metodológicamente se ha monitoreado la irradiancia solar global sobre el plano vertical en fachadas norte completamente asoleadas y parcialmente asoleadas afectadas por enmascaramiento sólido y enmascaramiento del arbolado