Estimation and Analysis of Building Energy Demand and Supply Costs

In modern societies buildings largely contribute to the energy demand and account in some countries for up to 45% of the primary energy consumption. Detailed consumption data can be used to offer advanced services and provide new business opportunities to all participants in the energy supply chain. In recent years, the intensified research effort by the scientific community and companies from the energy sector has led to an improved estimation of the building energy consumption. This paper proposes a tool that combines on one hand architectural characteristics and, on the other, user interactions with a building to precisely estimate its energy consumption and supply costs. The tool also determines the sensitivity of the energy consumption and the related costs for any variations applied in the building configuration or in the energy tariffs. The identification of critical parameters allows building managers to adopt appropriate measures to improve energy efficiency of the considered building. For the demonstration and validation of the proposed approach the developed tool is then applied to a case of an office building located in Madrid (Spain). It is explained in detail how the estimates of the building energy consumption and the costs were calculated and the sensitivity analysis performed.