Role - Energy Modeler

Role

The energy modeler can be involved in two types of projects, to develop Carbon Reduction Pathways for Existing Buildings or to help design an Sustainable New Neighborhood. In the former case, the energy modeler is typically hired by the municipality (Sustainability Champion). In the latter case, the client may be an urban planning team or a developer.

The energy modeler has a background in green building consulting and individual building energy modeling (BEM) and initially works with the champion to define shallow and deep energy retrofitting upgrades for the local building stock (step 2). The GIS manager will then provide them with a *.uio file that contains building geometry and program type and Thant can be used to build baseline and upgrade scenario UBEMS (steps 4 to 6). The energy modeler analyzes the results (step 7) and finally shares them back with the municipality (step 8).

Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM)

UBEM is a modeling approach that combines big urban data sets with individual building energy models (BEM). The term was coined in 2016 and research on the topic has been rapidly growing in recent years. Four UBEM use cases have been identified:

Until 2022, the technology was predominantly used in academic setting and by some specialized sustainability consulting firms. A barrier towards wider use has been that energy modelers are typically not familiar with GIS data set or manipulating larger urban data sets. UBEM.IO was specifically developed to overcome this barrier and move UBEM into the mainstream. As explained below, UBEM.IO currently focuses on use case 2.

Software Requirements

The energy modeler will need a background in energy modeling, ideally in EnergyPlus, which is the simulation backbone for MIT’s Urban Modeling Interface. (UMI). UBEM.IO generates the UMI file that the energy modeler will use to run operational building energy simulations at the neighborhood level. UBEM.IO is a web app and does thus not require any dedicate software packages. To run an UMI file, the energy modeler need a Windows PC with the following two programs:

  • Rhinoceros 3D (Rhino) forms the CAD backbone of all environmental analysis in UMI. A free 90 day trial version can be downloaded form the McNeel web site.

  • Urban Modeling Interface (UMI) is a free plugin for Rhino to evaluate the environmental performance of neighborhoods and cities with respect to operational and embodied energy use, neighborhood walkability, access to daylighting, urban food production and district-level energy supply analysis. It can be downloaded form the MIT Sustainable Design Lab web site. New users are encouraged to watch the Lean UMI YouTube playlist. The first video, UMI Tutorial 1 | Installation, provides step-by-step installation instructions. It is recommended that the energy modeler also watches UMI Tutorial 2 | Interface, UMI Tutorial 3 | Modules - Site and UMI Tutorial 4 | Operational Building Energy.