A Systematic Literature Review of Physics-Based Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) Tools, Data Sources, and Challenges for Energy Conservation

Ehsan Kamel ()
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Ehsan Kamel: Department of Energy Management, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, NY 11568, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-24

Abstract: Urban building energy modeling (UBEM) is a practical approach in large-scale building energy modeling for stakeholders in the energy industry to predict energy use in the building sector under different design and retrofit scenarios. UBEM is a relatively new large-scale building energy modeling (BEM) approach which raises different challenges and requires more in-depth study to facilitate its application. This paper performs a systematic literature review on physics-based modeling techniques, focusing on assessing energy conservation measures. Different UBEM case studies are examined based on the number and type of buildings, building systems, occupancy schedule modeling, archetype development, weather data type, and model calibration methods. Outcomes show that the existing tools and techniques can successfully simulate and assess different energy conservation measures for a large number of buildings. It is also concluded that standard UBEM data acquisition and model development, high-resolution energy use data for calibration, and open-access data, especially in heating and cooling systems and occupancy schedules, are among the biggest challenges in UBEM adoption. UBEM research studies focused on developing auto-calibration routines, adding feedback loops for real-time updates, future climate data, and sensitivity analysis on the most impactful modeling inputs should be prioritized for future research.

Keywords: urban building energy modeling; physics-based; bottom-up; energy conservation measures (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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