Development of occupancy-based multi-scale building archetypes

Abstract

In the context of the European building stock, more than 50 % of buildings were built before 1960, and it has been estimated that 75 % of the current building stock will still exist in 2050. A typical approach to estimate energy consumption at multiple scales is by using archetypes which are the cohort of representative buildings with similar characteristics. Typically, archetypes are classified based on year of construction, type of dwelling and type of heating system. Since, this classification does not account for the stochastic nature of occupancy, a typical occupant presence pattern from the literature is considered. This study develops a methodology to generate stochastic occupancy profiles using the UK Time Use Survey (TUS) 2014-15 data. The occupancy profiles take into account the affect of the day of the week, the month of the year, the number of residents in the household and the type of dwelling. To test the methodology, we used the Irish residential building archetypes and 5-8% variations in energy use intensity are observed using the developed occupancy profiles for an apartment archetype having one and two occupants. The generated occupancy profiles facilitate the pathway to develop robust archetypes for reliable energy prediction at an urban scale. Furthermore, robust archetypes allow policymakers and urban planners to recommend appropriate energy efficiency measures for the sustainable development of residential building sector.