Abstract
The tree is regarded as an sustainable architectural outdoor design element which reduce urban heat island effect by its solar shading and evapotranspiration. This study carried out field observations of measuring thermal environment of selected tree and its ambience to determine passive cooling effects. Results from the field observations are as below; Tree-shading effect to the thermal environment can not be properly evaluated by merely measuring air temperature differences between tree-shaded space and unshaded space for the maximum temperature difference is less than $1.5^{\circ}C$. The differences of longwave radiation and shortwave radiation between tree-shaded space and unshaded space are measured. Shortwave radiation is considered as a main thermal comfort determining factor for the difference of the shortwave radiation is much bigger than that of longwave radiation. By thermal infrared image analysis, the surface temperature of the tree under strong solar radiation is measured same as ambient air temperature. By which the evapotranspiration is considered to retard tree surface temperature raising effectively.
