Aerial urban observation to enhance energy assessment and planning towards climate-neutrality: A pilot application to the city of Turin

Abstract

Based on the central role of cities in the decarbonisation process, this study aims at providing a novel methodology to assess and optimize the building energy demand and photovoltaic producibility at city scale. This is done by exploring the potential of aerial acquisition of local-scale thermographic data to integrate the existing database on building Energy Performance Certificates, on which the EU energy assessment and retrofit policies are based, on a dedicated GIS platform. Once the method is validated through testing the reliability of the resulting energy classification of buildings, the approach is used to esteem the energy demand and potential energy production in the current state and two alternative retrofit scenarios for a large district in Turin, Italy. For the analysed scenarios, potential savings are quantified up to 20 GWh and 5000 tCO2 yearly, decreasing by more than 70 % primary energy and CO2 emissions when photovoltaic panels and heat pumps are optimally used and integrated to the existing district heating system. Conclusions remark the potential of this tool to support urban policy making and governance, also with the future perspective of a thematic urban digital twin for planning energy retrofit intervention and large scale implementation of Renewable Energy Communities.