Energy Modelling and Analytics in the Built Environment—A Review of Their Role for Energy Transitions in the Construction Sector

Massimiliano Manfren, Maurizio Sibilla and Lamberto Tronchin
Additional contact information
Massimiliano Manfren: Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Boldrewood Innovation Campus, Burgess Rd, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK
Maurizio Sibilla: School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Oxford OX3 0BE, UK
Lamberto Tronchin: Department of Architecture (DA), University of Bologna, Viale Europa 596, 47521 Cesena, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-29

Abstract: Decarbonisation and efficiency goals set as a response to global warming issue require appropriate decision-making strategies to promote an effective and timely change in energy systems. Conceptualization of change is a relevant part of energy transitions research today, which aims at enabling radical shifts compatible with societal functions and market mechanisms. In this framework, construction sector can play a relevant role because of its energy and environmental impact. There is, however, the need to move from general instances to specific actions. Open data and open science, digitalization and building data interoperability, together with innovative business models could represent enabling factors to accelerate the process of change. For this reason, built environment research has to address the co-evolution of technologies and human behaviour and the analytical methods used for this purpose should be empirically grounded, transparent, scalable and consistent across different temporal/spatial scales of analysis. These features could potentially enable the emergence of “ecosystems” of applications that, in turn, could translate into projects, products and services for energy transitions in the built environment, proposing innovative business models that can stimulate market competitiveness. For these reasons, in this paper we organize our analysis according to three levels, from general concepts to specific issues. In the first level, we consider the role of building energy modelling at multiple scales. In the second level, we focus on harmonization of methods for energy performance analysis. Finally, in the third level, we consider emerging concepts such as energy flexibility and occupant-centric energy modelling, considering their relation to monitoring systems and automation. The goal of this research is to evaluate the current state of the art and identify key concepts that can encourage further research, addressing both human and technological factors that influence energy performance of buildings.

Keywords: energy transitions; energy modelling; energy analytics; data-driven methods; building performance analysis energy efficiency; energy flexibility; occupant-centric design; open energy data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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