The development of an RC-network simulation model calibrated with monitoring data for use in the performance guarantee of Net-Zero houses

In order to drive forward the energy transition, construction companies and other suppliers of deep retrofitting solutions have started to give guarantees on the energy performance of very energy efficient houses. With these initiatives, a need has arisen for methods that can assess per household the actual energy performance during the use phase. An RC-network simulation model calibrated with monitoring data has been developed and tested on deep retrofitted Net-Zero houses in Emmen (the Netherlands). The results show that this has been a successful first step in order to arrive at a realistic analysis of the actual energy performance of individual houses. The big challenge will be to determine the parameters in the model with more certainty. This applies especially, but not exclusively, to the behavioural parameters.