DdBB: A Data-driven Framework for Building Energy Use Benchmarking

Building energy-use models and tools can simulate and represent the distribution of energy consumption of buildings located in an urban area. The aim of these models is to simulate the energy performance of buildings at multiple temporal and spatial scales, taking into account both the building shape and the surrounding urban context. This paper investigates existing models by simulating the hourly space heating consumption of residential buildings in an urban environment. Existing bottom-up urban-energy models were applied to the city of Fribourg in order to evaluate the accuracy and flexibility of energy simulations. Two common energy-use models—a machine learning model and a GIS-based engineering model—were compared and evaluated against anonymized monitoring data. The study shows that the simulations were quite precise with an annual mean absolute percentage error of 12.8 and 19.3% for the machine learning and the GIS-based engineering model, respectively, on residential buildings built in different periods of construction. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis using the Morris method was carried out on the GIS-based engineering model in order to assess the impact of input variables on space heating consumption and to identify possible optimization opportunities of the existing model.

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A Rapid Review on Community Connected Microgrids

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126753 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6753

Author(s):

Moiz Masood Syed ◽

Gregory M. Morrison

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Energy Use ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Optimal Solution ◽

Building Energy ◽

Rapid Review ◽

Solar Pv ◽

Electricity Cost ◽

Building Energy Use

As the population of urban areas continues to grow, and construction of multi-unit developments surges in response, building energy use demand has increased accordingly and solutions are needed to offset electricity used from the grid. Renewable energy systems in the form of microgrids, and grid-connected solar PV-storage are considered primary solutions for powering residential developments. The primary objectives for commissioning such systems include significant electricity cost reductions and carbon emissions abatement. Despite the proliferation of renewables, the uptake of solar and battery storage systems in communities and multi-residential buildings are less researched in the literature, and many uncertainties remain in terms of providing an optimal solution. This literature review uses the rapid review technique, an industry and societal issue-based version of the systematic literature review, to identify the case for microgrids for multi-residential buildings and communities. The study describes the rapid review methodology in detail and discusses and examines the configurations and methodologies for microgrids.

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Urban form and building energy use: A systematic review of measures, mechanisms, and methodologies

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.rser.2020.110662 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 139 ◽

pp. 110662

Author(s):

Steven Jige Quan ◽

Chaosu Li

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Urban Form ◽

Energy Use ◽

Building Energy ◽

Building Energy Use

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The Development of a Biomimetic Design Tool for Building Energy Efficiency

Biomimetics ◽

10.3390/biomimetics5040050 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 50

Author(s):

Negin Imani ◽

Brenda Vale

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Energy Use ◽

Thermal Adaptation ◽

Building Energy ◽

Design Tool ◽

Building Energy Efficiency ◽

Energy Efficient Buildings ◽

Building Energy Use ◽

Architectural Framework

The initial aim of the research was to develop a framework that would enable architects to look for thermoregulation methods in nature as inspiration for designing energy efficient buildings. The thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) assumes designers will start with a thermal challenge in a building and then look in a systematic way for how this same issue is solved in nature. The tool is thus a contribution to architectural biomimicry in the field of building energy use. Since the ThBA was created by an architect, it was essential that the biology side of this cross-disciplinary tool was validated by experts in biology. This article describes the focus group that was conducted to assess the quality, inclusiveness, and applicability of the framework and why a focus group was selected over other possible methods such as surveys or interviews. The article first provides a brief explanation of the development of the ThBA. Given the focus here is on its validation, the qualitative data collection procedures and analysis results produced by NVivo 12 plus through thematic coding are described in detail. The results showed the ThBA was effective in bridging the two fields based on the existing thermal challenges in buildings, and was comprehensive in terms of generalising biological thermal adaptation strategies.

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