Combining data spatial and semantic, 3D city models provide excellent support to calculate the needs of heating and cold of the buildings at the urban scale, giving a rating by building much more reliable and realistic than the traditional method based on 2D - GIS maps.
Specific needs of heat in an area of Ludwigburg - source: HfT Stuttgart
They allow in particular to calculate individually the orientation of the facades and volumes of each building, essential information for thermal modeling of buildings. The data collected on the construction of the fassades, roof and window as well as on the use of the building can be stored, via the CityGML Energy ADE urban information model. The missing data is generally estimated based on the type and age of the building, through specialized bookshops. The uncertainty in the estimation of the heat of the building needs depends directly on the quality of the information collected. A study comparing simulation and heat consumption measures revealed deviations from the order of 20% or less when rich semantic data were collected, and beyond 30% otherwise. Beyond the simple fact to model the existing thermal state of the buildings, this methodology allows also to predict energy savings related to the renovation operation on an urban scale, whether at the level of the district, the city, or even in the region.
Prerequisite: 3D city model (LoD1 and LoD2) generally, function and age of each building, energy renovation operation, vacant buildings.
Initiatives & links
SIMSTADT, urban energy simulation platform
- Some applications for quarters of Karlsruhe, Ludwigsburg, and Rotterdam, between 200 and 1000 buildings.
- Estimated needs of heat and CO2 emission scenarios of renovation of ~ 1000 buildings of the district Bospolder of Rotterdam (report), the project of European Music.
- Contacts: New Roman, Volker Coors (HFT Stuttgart).
Territory of the County of Ludwigsburg climate energy plan
- Klimaschutzkonzept (map energy climate territory) of the 32 municipalities of the County of Ludwigsburg (500,000 inhabitants)
- Partners: HFT Stuttgart, Drees & Sommer, Landkreis Ludwigsburg
- Contacts: Volker Coors, New Roman (HFT Stuttgart).
"Citywide urban building energy model" Boston
- Estimation of hourly applications for gas and electricity to each of the 100,000 buildings in the city of Boston
- Contacts: Christoph Reinhart, Carlos Cerezo (MIT).
Project Sunshine
- Beauty (English link requires a recent version of java)
- Coordinator: Raffaele Amicis (Fondazione Grapitech)