The use of normative energy calculation beyond building performance rating

Abstract

Standardized building performance assessment is best expressed with a so-called normative calculation method, such as defined in the Committee for Standardization/International Organization for Standardization (CEN/ISO) calculation standards. The normative calculation method has advantages of simplicity, transparency, robustness and reproducibility. For systematic energy performance assessment at various scales, i.e. at the unit of analysis of one building up to a large-scale collection of buildings, the authors' group developed the Energy Performance Standard Calculation Toolkit (EPSCT). This toolkit calculates objective indicators of energy performance using either the monthly or hourly calculation method as specified in the CEN/ISO standard for building energy calculation. The toolkit is the foundation for numerous single, medium-scale and large-scale building energy management applications. At the largest level, applications should be able to manage hundreds or thousands of buildings. The paper introduces two novel applications that have the normative calculation at their core: (1) network energy performance modelling and (2) agent-based building stock energy modelling.

Keywords:

• building energy modelling
• normative model
• large-scale energy performance