Exploring tools and indicators to support collaborative planning, design, implementation, operation, and evaluation of Positive Energy Districts

Abstract

The study defines an integrated parametric workflow to support PED collaborative design and implementation. Through a preliminary detailed analysis, existing tools for urban building performance simulation and microclimatic analysis were identified, tested, and selected, aiming at maximising their interoperability potential and overall support to collaborative PED planning practices. Subsequently, it is illustrated how to conduct an ex-post simulation analysis of medium and long-term interventions, with specific projections of different scenarios considering climate change impacts on energy demand. The evaluation of the proposed climate-adaptive interventions takes place using tools for the optimization of systems and technical solutions at the basis of the energy surplus and decarbonization of districts and neighbourhoods. The aim of this research is twofold: i) shading light on the absence of data management, especially at the initial stages of the PED project, resulting in uncertainty and slow-down of the whole implementation process, as well as associated difficulties to trigger virtuous replicability processes towards inclusive urban energy transitions; and ii) promoting the adoption of tools and integrated climate adaptation and mitigation frameworks to support collaborative planning and evaluation of Positive Energy Districts.