RETROSIM - Multi-Objective Building Retrofit, Simulation and Monitoring on-line optimization tool for Improving Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Title: RETROSIM - Multi-Objective Building Retrofit, Simulation and Monitoring on-line optimization tool for Improving Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Coordinators at INESCC: Carlos Henggeler

Co-Coordinator:

Project Team:

Date of approval:

Dates start/end: 16-07-2018 / 15-07-2021

Total Eligible Cost: 31 268.75€

EU Financial Support: 26 578.44€

National Financial Support: 4 690.31€

Project Code: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032503

Region of intervention:

Beneficiaries:Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Aerodinamica Industrial, INESC Coimbra - Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores de Coimbra, ITCONS - Instituto de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico para a Construção, Energia, Ambiente e Sustentabilidade

Copromotor:

Synopsis

A wide range of retrofit technologies exists, which are readily available for building retrofit project however methods and tools to identify the most suitable set of retrofit actions for particular projects are still a major technical challenge. RETROSIM project will focuses on using modeling and optimization techniques for developing an on-line tool to provide stakeholders sound information to support the definition of intervention measures aimed at minimizing energy use in the building in a cost effective manner, while considering the occupants comfort. The main project outcome will be a web-based software-as-a-service tool aimed to assist Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and building owners to carry out building energy assessments and retrofit recommendations easier and faster, saving time and money. The ESCOs will be able to use the RETROSIM to deliver standardized reports that are designed to drive action, including financial decisions. Building owners and investors will be able to determine which buildings have opportunities across a portfolio, isolating no-cost and low-cost operational measures for immediate savings. In addition, as information about the building changes or technology prices and characteristics change over time, building owners can always re-evaluate the most cost-effective retrofitting opportunities from our database.

First, the project will identify and categorize a comprehensive set of innovative retrofitting actions and renewable energy solutions. This set of alternatives will be stored in a database to be used as an input to a software tool to quantitatively compare the merits of different options based on multiple evaluation criteria. In the second step, an innovative hardware system including a set of advance wireless sensors built upon a wireless communication system that allows for easy deployment in buildings that can be received and installed by the customers, eliminating the need of on-site visits will be developed. Later on, an optimization engine based on the previous projects of the team will be developed and wrapped around these models to perform the multi-objective optimization (MOO), thus coping with the combinatorial nature of the problem. This fast and efficient MOO approach quantitatively assess technology choices in a building retrofit project. When complete, the information is compiled and presented in a building performance report. A representative set of buildings will be used to exploit this tool in practical settings.

The RETROSIM project will be carried out by a team of researchers specialized in mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering who combine the key modelling skills in mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, energy system engineering, building technology engineering, and informatics. The collaboration with Politecnico di Torino (PT) consists in the participation of Energy department of the PT as consultants of the proposed project.