Energy and Buildings, Vol.78, 50-58, 2014
An online interactive tool to assess energy consumption in residential buildings and for daily mobility
Improving energy efficiency in the building and transportation sectors is a viable approach to mitigate the effects of climate change and has become an important policy target. As a result, in addition to scientific research and public policies addressing energy efficiency, raising public awareness of the impact of the behaviour of citizens to energy efficiency is crucial and could quickly lead to significant reductions in the total energy consumption of a territory. In this context, this paper presents a new online interactive tool that enables not only citizens but also local authorities and private developers to (1) assess the sources of energy consumption related to housing and to daily mobility at both the individual and neighbourhood scales, (2) compare these sources and (3) determine relevant and personalised suggestions to reduce energy consumption. Numerous methods and tools, including a typological classification of buildings, thermal dynamic simulations, life-cycle assessments and statistical treatments of national censuses, were used to produce the two large databases used in this interactive tool. This report represents the primary results of a three-year long scientific research project dedicated to the study of energy efficiency in buildings and for daily mobility that is accessible to a large non-specialised audience. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Occupant behaviour;Energy efficiency;Building energy consumption;Daily mobility;Interactive tool;Assessment methods