A customized modelling approach for multi-functional buildings – Application to an Italian Reference Hotel

Abstract

In the forthcoming European low-carbon energy system, the building stock plays a major role in the demand sector. Therefore, in order to develop robust scenario analysis towards the success of the low-carbon goals, a trustful characterization of the building stock is required. Reference Buildings are often the base of these building stock models, but, at present, an uneven level of development between residential and non-residential Reference Buildings is detected. The present paper contributes to fill this knowledge gap by proposing a method to model Reference multi-functional Buildings. Multi-functional buildings represent an important share of the non-residential buildings stock, by embracing all buildings hosting different activities under the same roof. In order to trustfully depict their energy performances, the EU definition of Reference Buildings have to be updated. To this purpose, this study proposes a rationale to describe and model these buildings, based on the distinction between their typical and extra energy uses. In order to test the proposed methodology, it was applied to the definition a Reference Hotel in Italy, with the additional aim to provide support material to the national energy and tourism policies.