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Built Stock Explorer logo [buildingstockexplorer.indecol.no]

... is a research software developed for interactive analysis and modelling of large-scale building energy use. Through an intuitive web interface, it makes accessible a comprehensive dataset on the energy performance of buildings and several instruments for the statistical information retrieval and data-enabled modelling, both explanatory and predictive. The software is designed to support a rather heuristic (hence the Explorer) learning about the energy-related properties of the built stock and about the methods of predicting it. The functional capabilities, therefore, are featuring an immediate illustration of any analytical operation.

NB: The scope of application, so as the underlying dataset, are limited to the Norwegian cities and municipalities.

Motivation

Examining and predicting building energy performance at a stock level is motivated by the need for mediating the built environment towards more sustainable. This may be done through political and practical mechanisms at all levels, from local to state-wide. The awareness about the energy performance of buildings currently, in the nearest and/or in the distant future is necessary to develop, implement and ensure the effectiveness of these mechanisms. Because of the associated complexities, scale and pace with which built stock energy use evolves, documenting its status quo and predicting the future state is a rather challenging task. The examples of relevant questions are:

  • How much energy do buildings actually use?
  • What is the relationship between building characteristics (e.g. type, age, size) and their energy use?
  • Does the energy use of the buildings differ given the local climate, architectural and socio-political variations across the communities they belong to?
  • And finally, can we accurately predict energy use in buildings, by means of either or both, classical statistical modelling or more novel machine learning techniques?

Built Stock Explorer accommodates a set of instruments to answer some of these and the related questions.

Users

The application's design choices allow anyone to use it. This could be a curious user interested in the discipline or an experienced analyst involved in research or policy development. Although the illustrated results are meant for intuitive interpretation, the understanding of basic statistical concepts and terminology is beneficial.