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Digital technologies to improve EPC’s inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation, Spain

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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  • Why are ECP inputs important?
  • Digital inspection technology
  • Energy model input parameters calibration

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Why are EPC inputs important?

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Improving EPCs’ reliability and accuracy

  • Current EPC suffers lack of trust due to reliability issues
  • EPCs need to be accurate to correctly evaluate real savings and guide the renovation wave

162 independent experts have been asked to perform an EPC for the same house with the same software.

Tronchin, L., & Fabbri, K. (2012). Energy Performance Certificate of building and confidence interval in assessment: An Italian case study. Energy Policy48, 176-184.

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Overview of EPC RECAST technologies

BIMEO – Inspection data collection

Infrared diagnosis of buildings by drone

MEREEN – Real weather data service

Self-audit

Calibration toolbox

Cometh hourly computational core

Operational rating

Digital logbook for dwelling

SRI

Building renovation roadmap

Printing App for quality checks

KROQI – BIM platform

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Target inputs

  • Geometrical data
  • Thermo-physical and system efficiency data

BIMEO – Inspection data collection

Calibration toolbox

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC RECAST core process

Common Data Environment

On-Site Diagnosis

Data model

and files

Data model

and files

Next Gen.

EPC

Renovation

roadmap

On-Site Measurements

Consumption data

Automated

Model calibration

(Real conditions)

EPC calibrated

Simulation

(Standard conditions)

Dynamic

energy simulation

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Digitalizing and automating the inspection process

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Impact on EPC

  • Inaccuracy of surface and volumes can affect the EPC results

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Impact on EPC

  • AR scanning can speed up the geometrical data collection process, especially when there is no floor plan available
  • It can lead to improved accuracy and help identify uncertainties
  • Output in standard data format (BIM + linked data) can facilitate persistence and reusability of the data

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC RECAST results

Scan 3D

Croquis

Acquisition tool

Questionnaires

DATA

Technical information�

XML

EPC recast�

Calibration

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC RECAST results

What EPC assessors said

  • “The 3D survey may ensure that there are no omissions regarding the number of walls, thermal bridges, etc. Limits cheating.”
  • “I was very positively impressed by the ease of detecting the surfaces of the rooms, and the insertion of the input data into the program.”
  • “The tool seemed very useful to me both for reducing the time of the inspection and for the subsequent processing of the data and the preparation of the EP assessment.”
  • “I would likely pay to have a license when it will become a commercial product”
  • “It definitely seems like a competitive tool to me”

VS

BIMEO

Manual

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Conclusions

  • AR scanning technologies can assist the EPC assessor to get the geometrical information for the EPC rapidly and accurately
  • Tablet format is adapted to inspection
  • Geolocalizing annotation facilitate back-office work

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Recommendations

  • Such inspection tools need to be integrated with the EPC simulation software
    • BIMEO is working with several French EPC software provider for integration
  • Need for a EU-level standard ontology based on CEN standard to facilitate data exchange between building energy efficiency tools

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC Energy model calibration

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Impact on EPC

  • The mathematical models used for EPC performance evaluation relay on many assumptions.
    • Most of the input values come from standards and have high uncertainty.
  • People don’t understand the link between the certificate and their energy bill…
  • … but to be useful for policy making, the EPC need to be about the intrinsic properties of the building, not the occupants’ behaviour.

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Impact on EPC

  • What are the data with high uncertainty in EPCs?
    • Window surface and total volume
    • External walls heat transfer
    • Window heat transfer and solar factor
    • Infiltration rate
    • Real boiler efficiency
  • What data can be easily avaiable?
    • Hourly smart meter data
    • Monthly gas or district heating bills

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC RECAST results

  • Step 0: Identification of the most uncertain parameters
  • Step 1: Hourly simulation of the EPC energy model under real condition
    • Weather, Occupancy estimation
  • Step 2: Comparison with real energy consumption and fine tuning of thermo-physical parameters
  • Step 3: Simulation of the EPC model in standard conditions with calibrated parameters

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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EPC RECAST results

About 5% improvement of the accuracy of the energy model.

Parameter

Default

Calibrated

Windows U-value (W/m2.K)

3

2.78

Window solar control

0.8

0.77

Wall internal resistance (m2.K/W)

1.4

0.26

Infiltration rate (change / hour)

0.7

2.79

Boiler efficiency

0.88

0.96

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Conclusions and recommendations

  • The ability to calibrate the EPC energy models should be included in EPC software
    • Possibility to input real conditions (weather, occupancy, energy consumption) to evaluate the validity of the standard model and improve the inputs with high uncertainty.
  • Automation of the calibration still requires further research
    • Facilitate the import of the real condition data
    • Better understanding of the relation between the calibration results and the real characteristics of the building

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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Conclusions and recommendations

  • A good understanding of energy model calibration should be part of the EPC assessors' skills

  • Even if the process is automated, the assessor should have the final decision on input parameters of the standard energy model

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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General conclusion

Digital tools can contribute to improve data collection for EPCs

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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OUR TEAM

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

See you online!

www.epc-recast.eu

@epcrecast

@EpcRecast

EPC-RECAST

The next generation EPC conference – 23 May 2024

Technologies for improved EPC inputs

Sarah Noyé, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement number 893118. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this document, which is merely representing the authors’ view.