Urban anthropogenic heat is emitted from transportation, manufacturing, industry, houses, offices and energy sectors. None of them are easy to estimate or measure, resulting in the obscure contribution of each heat source to the urban atmosphere. In addition, the amount and distribution of each source in the future is much more difficult to quantify due to the uncertainty arises from the technological improvement of energy efficiency, economic development and the energy law enforcement.

In this paper, spatial and temporal distributions of anthropogenic heat emission from buildings and vehicles are quantified over the Kanto plain that covers major metropolitan cities including Tokyo metropolitan area, based on the available data sources. The data include the type and floor area of buildings, household numbers, and the volume and type of traffic, etc. The amount of anthropogenic heat emissions and patterns of diurnal and seasonal variations are parameterized in relation to the land use type. It is found that the anthropogenic emission from transportation is comparable to that from buildings for household and business purposes, especially in suburban areas. Future potential increase of those emissions is estimated by assuming future situation associated with the energy use, referring to reports from the government and municipal authorities.