Development of a tool to assess the impacts of efficient technologies in residential districts

Today, the world faces climate change, uncoordinated depletion of natural resources and rapid urbanization. Buildings in cities account for about 25% of the global energy consumption and 15% of the energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Likewise, in the province of Québec, buildings are responsible for a large share of the total energy use. A recent study shows that the building sector in Québec accounts for 31% of the total energy use, from which 18% is the share of residential buildings. Projections show that population growth, facilities concentration, and diverse economic activities in urban areas will intensify these figures unless valid energy practices are applied to the building stock. Towards the notion of net-zero energy communities, this project aims to develop a tool to assess the impact of adopting energy technologies in future residential neighbourhoods. This tool will contain various building and technology archetypes and help compare the baseline demand profile of different layouts. The novelty of this project is to use a gray-box approach for developing design-oriented building archetypes that facilitate energy assessment at the early design stage. For example, key design variables in these archetypes will be 1) total floor area, 2) total fenestration area, 3) building type, and 4) level of insulation. Primarily, this tool provides a platform for community designers and planners to make informed decisions and optimize the design; however, it can also be useful for retrofit applications in the existing neighbourhoods.

Faculty Supervisor:

Andreas Athienitis

Student:

Partner:

Hydro-Quebec

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Utilities

University:

Concordia University

Program: