Heating and

Cooling DegreeDays for Jordan

By
Prof. Ali Badran
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Jordan
Presented at the Scientific Day, in Cooperation with Mechanical Engineering
Branch
Jordan Engineers Association, 1/6/2013

The Heating Degree-Day Method: Background

It was found that: Heating load (Tb Ta)

Where Ta is the mean outdoor temperature, and Tb is an assumed
.constant value of this temperature, called base temperature
For example, if Tb is 18 C and Ta is 15 C then T = 3 C, then
Q1 = U x A x T = U x A x 3
if Ta is 12 C then T = 6 C, then
Q2 = U x A x T = U x A x 6 = 2 Q1
A Degree-Day is a unit of one day where Tb Ta = 1 C
For example, if T = 3 C for one day we have 3 x 1 = 3 DegreeDays
if T = 6 C for 30 days we have 6x 30 = 180 DegreeDays
if T = 5 C for 120 days we have 5 x 120 = 600
Degree-Days

Heating Degree Day

(HDD): Alternative
: Approach
Heating
Degree
Hour
HDH (T Ta (t ) )
: (HDH)
N

k 1

summation overHDH
the hourly data of the year;
HDD

hours in the year

24

Then

N= number of

What does HDD do for

you
For example, the mass of fuel consumed over a heating season may be calculated for a certain
:locality from the following equation [1]
Mf = 24 Q x HDD (Cd/Eta)/ (Ti To) x CV
Where: Q is the calculated heating load, kJ/h
Cd is an emperical correction factor, which depends on the value of HDD. For example,
. it
is 0.8 for HDD up to 1000, and 0.75 for HDD for 1001 t0 2000
.Eta is an efficiency factor, 0.8 for liquid fuel and 0.5 for gaseous fuel
. CV is the calorific value of the fuel, in kJ/kg
As an example, let the heating load for an apartment in Irbid be 35,495 kJ/h (9.86 kW) or
41,273 kcal/h. The HDD for Irbid is 1129, Ti is 21 and To is 5 C, the heating value of the fuel
is 39,000 kJ/kg and the boiler efficiency is 0.8. The resulting Mf is 1445 kg or 1700 liter

Indoor design Temp.

Cooling Degree Day (CDD)
could be taken as Ti,d =
21 C

The outdoor Temperature is taken as the

. daily average (from weather data)
Thus, Ti,d = 21 C ( for cooling, the
T
To ,outdoor
is larger than 21 C; N= total numberk of days;
and
is the base temprature for cooling
which is the mean daily temperature above
which air conditioning
should be turned on in
N
.order to obtain
comfort
CDD
(To , k 21 )
k 1

Cooling Degree Day (CDD): Alternative

: Approach

CDH
CDD
24

: Cooling Degree Hour

Summation over
the hourly data of the weather data
N
year

CDD (To , k (t ) 21 )
k 1

Then

This work
The degree-day method is based on the
assumption that the heating or cooling load is
proportional to the difference between a mean
daily outdoor temperature Tm and an outdoor
temperature, called base temperature T b. The
mean temperature is the average of the
maximum and the minimum outdoor
temperatures during the day. The base
temperature is the outdoor temperature below
or above which heating or cooling is required
for the space, respectively.

:In the heating situation, Tm < Tb and qloss [W] is given by

qloss = Ktot ( Tb Tm)

(1)

In the cooling situation, Tm > Tb and qgain [W] is given by:

qgain = Ktot ( Tm Tb)

(2)

The total heat transfer coefficient Ktot may be understood in conjunction with the overall
heat transfer coefficient Uov [W/m2 oC] of the building envelope, which appears in the equation:
qloss = Uov Aov ( Tb Tm)
(3)
Where Aov is the overall area of the building heat transfer envelope. It can be shown that:
Uov Aov = (Ui Ai )
Therefore
Ktot = (Ui Ai )
(5)

(4)

In case of heating, Ktot may be easily calculated

using eqn. 5 because solar, occupants and lighting
effects are usually neglected since they are
considered as an addition to the load.
For example, for a heated two story residence in
Amman whose walls are insulated, and based on
an overall area of 637 m2 and an average U factor
for the building envelope of 0.9 W/m2 oC, the value
of
( Ui Ai ) is 573 W/ oC, which is the value of Ktot in
the heating situation.
Should the residence be un-insulated, the value of
( Ui Ai ) is 1333 W/ oC and dividing by the overall
area of 637 m2 produces an average U factor of
2.09 W/m2 oC. The above values of heating case are

Table 1 Values of overall, effective overall and total heat transfer coefficients for several
building types under base temperatures of 28 oC and 26 oC for cooling in Jordan
*Units of Uov are (W/m2 oC);** units of Ktot are (W/oC); # units of Uov,eff are (W/m2 oC)
, Heating
Tb = 15.5 oC

Building Category

Uov*

Ktot**

Residential villa, insulated

0.9

573

Residential villa, un-insulated

2.09

Residential condo, insulated

Cooling, Tb = 28 oC

Cooling, Tb = 26 oC

Ktot **

Uov,eff #

Ktot**

35

22,000

17

44,000

1,333

44

28,250

22

56,500

0.83

758

370

21,150

185

42,300

Residential condo, un-insulated

2.75

2,510

612

35,000

306

70,000

Public building, insulated

0.79

3,830

571

172,500

286

345,000

Public building, un-insulated

2.65

9,309

768

237,500

384

475,000

Educational building, insulated

0.92

2,813

1,052

201,000

526

402,000

Educational building, un-insulated

2.8

7,059

1,282

245,000

641

490,000

Health-care facility, insulated

0.75

1,710

921

131,000

461

262,000

Health-care facility, un-insulated

2.67

6,078

1,081

153,750

541

307,500

Uov,eff#

In case of cooling, Ktot may be obtained from a typical

building whose cooling load qgain is known, using eqn. 2 for
the cooling situation gives:
Ktot = qgain / ( Tm Tb)

(6)

In a manner similar to eqn. 3, the cooling load, qgain may be

calculated by defining an effective overall heat transfer
coefficient Uov,eff that takes into account heat gain due to
solar, occupants and lighting effects such that:
qgain = Uov,eff Aov ( Tm Tb)

(7)

For example, for an air-conditioned two story

residence whose walls are insulated in Amman, the
heat gain is 88 kW, the overall envelope area is
637 m2, then, for a Summer base temperature of
28 oC and approximating the outdoor mean
temperature to be equal to an indoor mean
temperature of 24 oC, Uov,eff = qgain / Aov ( Tb Tm) =
88,000 / 637(28 24) = 34.5 W/m2 oC.
The value of Ktot in the cooling situation is obtained
from eqn. 6, which is, from the previous example:
88,000 / (28 24) = 22,000 W/oC. Should the
residence be un-insulated, the heat gain is 113 kW
and the resulting Uov,eff is 44.35 W/m2 oC and Ktot is
28,000 W/oC. Those values of cooling situation
were listed in Table 1.

Qyear = (Ktot / ) DD
(8)
Where is the efficiency of the heating or cooling system and DD is the
heating or cooling days for heating or cooling.
For heating, the degree days are given by the expression:
HDD = (1 day) days( Tb Tm)+
(9)
And for cooling, the degree-days are given by:
CDD = (1 day) days( Tm Tb)+
(10)
The plus sign at the upper right of the parenthesis in Eqs.
(9) and (10) indicate that only positive values are taken
into account.
The HDD and CDD are used mainly to calculate the
annual heating and cooling requirements, Qh and Qc,
respectively, in kWh such that:
Qh = (Ktot / ) HDD x 24/1000
(11)

Data base for temperature

Table 2 Monthly mean temperatures for main Jordanian weather stations

.over the last 15 years (1996 - 2010)
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

8.7

9.7

12.8

17.0

21.9

24.9

27.1

26.9

24.6

21.4

15.4

10.7

15.2

16.7

20.0

24.3

28.6

31.4

33.5

33.3

30.6

26.9

21.5

16.7

9.5

10.4

13.3

17.0

21.5

24.4

26.3

26.5

24.7

21.6

16.1

11.6

7.0

7.8

10.4

14.9

19.8

22.1

24.2

24.1

22.0

19.1

14.1

9.5

7.3

8.0

10.8

14.5

18.9

21.6

23.3

23.6

21.6

18.7

13.8

9.6

16.3

17.7

20.9

24.9

29.1

32.4

34.8

34.7

32.2

28.4

22.3

17.6

8.0

9.5

12.9

17.5

21.8

24.9

26.8

27.1

24.4

20.4

14.1

9.8

Station

Amman

Aqaba

Irbid

Jubaiha

Taffieleh
Ghor
Safi

Ma'an

Results and discussion

Table 3 Heating and cooling degree days for the seven Jordanian locations
on the basis of Tb = 15.5 oC for heating and Tb = 24 oC for cooling

Location

.Jan

.Feb

.Mar .Apr

May

June

July

. Aug

.Sep

.Oct

.Nov

Dec

Amman

209

162

84

28

93

90

17

148

608
HDD
228
CDD

Aqaba

143

222

295

288

189

90

HDD 9
1227
CDD

Irbid

186

143

68

12

71

78

21

121

518
HDD
182
CDD

Jubaiha

264

216

158

18

42

186

884
HDD
CDD 9

Taffieleh

254

210

146

30

51

183

874
HDD
CDD 0

Ghor Safi

27

158

252

322

332

246

136

HDD 0
1473
CDD

Yearly

Table 4 Heating and cooling degree days for the seven Jordanian
locations on the basis of Tb
=
=15.5 oC for heating and Tb = 22 oC for cooling
Location

.Jan

.Feb

.Mar .Apr

May

June

July

. Aug

.Sep

.Oct

.Nov

Dec

Amman

209

162

84

90

153

152

81

148

608
HDD
476
CDD

Aqaba

205

282

357

350

249

152

HDD 9
1595
CDD

Irbid

186

143

68

72

133

140

81

121

518
HDD
426
CDD

Jubaiha

264

216

158

18

68

65

42

186

884
HDD
136
CDD

Taffieleh

254

210

146

30

40

50

51

183

874
HDD
90
CDD

Ghor

87

220

312

397

394

306

198

HDD 0

Yearly

Comparing heating and cooling degree days obtained in Tables 4 and 5 with those obtained by
Kodah and El-Sharawi(1990), those obtained from RetScreen(2013) and those listed in Alsaad and
Hammad (2011), Table 5 is arranged to show only the yearly heating and cooling degree days for
the above locations.
Table 5 Yearly heating and cooling degree days for the seven Jordanian
locations
compared with other works
This work

RetScreen

Kodah and
El-sharawi

Alsaad and
Hammad

HDD
at Tb = 15.5oC

CDD at Tb=
24oC

CDD
at Tb= 22oC

HDD
at Tb=18 oC

CDD
at Tb=18 oC

HDD
at Tb=15.5
o
C

HDD
at
Tb=18.3 oC

Amman

608

228

476

824

3411

791

1228

Aqaba

1227

1595

903

3477

244

Irbid

518

182

426

827

3416

28

1129

Jubaiha

884

136

827

3416

979

1478

Taffieleh

874

90

909

3337

996

1498

Ghor Safi

1473

1923

824

3411

23

147

Location

Fig. 1 Average temperatures vs. time in Amman for the month

.of
February over last 15 years
14.0
12.0
10.0

Te mp
re
e
C
,ratu

8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Fig. 2 Average temperatures vs. time in Amman for the month of

June over last 15 years.

26.5
26.0

Te mp
re
C
e
, ratu

25.5
25.0
24.5
24.0
23.5
23.0
22.5
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Conclusions
1. Heating degree days in Jordan were found to

be slightly lower than those previously

reported. The reason is probably that there is
an increase in ambient temperature of about
0.1 oC per year.
2. Cooling degree days for seven locations in
Jordan were found at two base temperatures,
Tb = 24 and 22 oC. The latter was found to be
more realistic because there is an increase in
ambient temperature of about 0.1 oC per year.

.Conclusions, contd

3. Both HDD and CDD were compared with

values obtained through Retscreen and it was
found that those obtained from the latter
show higher values of HDD and much higher
values of CDD. The use of Retscreen values is
not recommended.
4. It is time to review the thermal insulation, the
heating
and the air conditioning codes to reflect
those findings