A Case Study of Refined Building Climate Zoning under Complicated Terrain Conditions in China

In this study, we first found that the few and sparse meteorological stations used in earlier comprehensive studies of building climate zoning in a complicated terrain area like Chongqing, China, may lead to the inapplicability of building energy efficiency standards in some areas. To address this issue, the study used daily data from 1908 extremely dense surface meteorological stations from 2011 to 2020 in Chongqing, China. In order to conduct fine zoning of building climate in Chongqing, China, GB50176-2016 and ASHRAE standard 169-2021 were employed, respectively. The findings indicated that by using the ASHRAE standard, the entire Chongqing region was classified into five climate zones. The Chongqing region was categorized into three different climate zones using China GB50176-2016: cold zone (CZ), hot summer and cold winter zone (HSCWZ), and mild zone (MZ). Not to be overlooked is the MZ (China’s GB50176-2016)/mixed-humid zone (ASHRAE standard), which is primarily situated at higher elevations in the southeast and northeast of Chongqing. In comparison to the HSCWZ/warm-humid zone, these zones have drastically different building energy efficiency regulations and approaches. According to preliminary projections, improved building climate zoning will to some extent increase building energy efficiency and reduce emissions in Chongqing. Finally, this study case can be replicated in different regions with complicated terrain.