| The heat island effect is mainly caused by the increase of urbanization. Defined as an urban area which has his summer temperatures 5 to 10 degrees higher than the rural area around, heat islands effects have consequences on the air quality, the health and the well-being of human beings.In this context, a new approach based on energetic balances has been developed. The difference between the excess and the deficit of energy can be established for the system which is studied. To facilitate the evaluation of procedures aiming at minimising the temperature of an urban environment, the used methodology has been applied to develop a decision-making tool according to the principles of satisfaction analysis. The use of this tool could involve better decision takings on the choice of construction materials to reduce the heat island effect and its consequences.On the basis of a case study, the tool has been applied on an urban area of Montreal (Canada). This study justifies decisions by a quantitative process and by the integration of the needs and the expectations of the actors of the urban project, which are based on the important criteria relating to an intervention on an urban project.Keywords: heat island effect, conservation of energy, energetic balance, radiates balance, solutions' analysis.Some interventions are trying to remedy this problem. They can on one side be realized on the infrastructures or more specifically on the buildings (e.g. by using construction materials with high albedo, or by the implantation of vegetation.) and on another side on the diminution of anthropogenic activities. As a system, the urban environments which suffer from heat island effect have all the characteristics to self-supply the phenomenon. However, the complexity of the interaction between the different causes makes the quantification of the specific contribution of each of them on the intensity of the phenomenon difficult. |
