Comprehensive modelling of energy use in households
1487 Downloads
Last Updated: 8-2010
This research argues that everyday behavior and lifestyle of occupants, dwelling characteristics, decentralized energy production methods and the sharing of excess produced energy have a significant influence on the energy use of households. Hence they form a serious energy saving potential to transform existing districts into an energy zero urban environment. By making use of the Agent Based Simulation software platform of NetLogo, a computer model has been constructed that comprehensively simulates the energy use in households. In this model, households consist of individual occupants that are given a unique lifestyle which determines their home presence, and their day-to-day activities. The dwellings in the model are complemented with technical characteristics that are based on the type of the dwelling and year of construction. Furthermore,each dwelling has the ability to produce energy with photovoltaics and share excess produced energy between its neighbors. By making use of a case study, based on the district of de Kruiskamp in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, this research describes quantitatively how occupant behavior, dwelling characteristics, photovoltaics and energy sharing affect the energy use of households and the total energy use of a district. Conclusions drawn from the case study indicate quantitatively the effect of potential behavioral and technical measures towards and energy neutral urban environment.