PLANHEAT{'}s satellite-derived heating and cooling degrees dataset for energy demand mapping and planning

The urban heat island (UHI) effect influences the heating and cooling (H&C) energy demand of buildings and should be taken into account in H&C energy demand simulations. To provide information about this effect, the PLANHEAT integrated tool-which is a GIS-based, open-source software tool for selecting, simulating and comparing alternative low-carbon and economically sustainable H&C scenarios-includes a dataset of 1 x 1 km hourly heating and cooling degrees (HD and CD, respectively). HD and CD are energy demand proxies that are defined as the deviation of the outdoor surface air temperature from a base temperature, above or below which a building is assumed to need heating or cooling, respectively. PLANHEAT's HD and CD are calculated from a dataset of gridded surface air temperatures that have been derived using satellite thermal data from Meteosat-10 Spinning Enhanced Visible and Near-Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). This article describes the method for producing this dataset and presents the results for Antwerp (Belgium), which is one of the three validation cities of PLANHEAT. The results demonstrate the spatial and temporal information of PLANHEAT's HD and CD dataset, while the accuracy assessment reveals that they agree well with reference values retrieved from in situ surface air temperatures. This dataset is an example of application-oriented research that provides location-specific results with practical utility.