Abstract
Access to reliable energy related data is a fundamental factor when taking decisions that help to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The increase in the amount of data we have available has led to the need to develop information systems that facilitate the analysis of such data to the agents which are present throughout the building life cycle, from the design phase to maintenance. Semantic web technologies provide a solution to interlink distributed data sources. This requires the construction of shared vocabularies (i.e. ontologies) which capture the meaning that users give to the data and facilitate access to them. As yet there are no consolidated methods to build these vocabularies. This article presents the methodology developed to create SEiS, an energy information system that uses semantic technologies to integrate energy related data and to facilitate services to the different agents involved throughout the stages of the building life cycle.
Highlights
In order to adopt the appropriate measures to improve the energy efficiency of existing and new buildings, the different agents involved –owners and occupants, energy providers and facility managers, design teams and consultants, administration and private developers– need reliable information concerning buildings’ energy performance
Having an “imperfect information” about the energy performance of buildings is considered by an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report as one of the main obstacles to be overcome since “in the vast majority of countries detailed end-use data is poorly collected or reported publicly” which results in “a severe lack of robust, comprehensive, detailed and up-to-date bottom-up assessments of GHG reduction opportunities and associated costs in buildings, worldwide” (1)
This occurs with regard to energy efficiency. To bridge this gap between design and performance, the need for a “standardized method for documenting and communicating information about the intended and the actual performance of a building” (2) has been already pointed out and solutions based on the application of IFC standards have been proposed. Such methods would enable the various agents involved in the improvement of energy efficiency of buildings –throughout all the different stages of the building life cycle, from design to construction and refurbishment– to adopt more efficient measures in their respective decision realms
Summary
In order to adopt the appropriate measures to improve the energy efficiency of existing and new buildings, the different agents involved –owners and occupants, energy providers and facility managers, design teams and consultants, administration and private developers– need reliable information concerning buildings’ energy performance. This occurs with regard to energy efficiency To bridge this gap between design and performance, the need for a “standardized method for documenting and communicating information about the intended and the actual performance of a building” (2) has been already pointed out and solutions based on the application of IFC standards have been proposed. Such methods would enable the various agents involved in the improvement of energy efficiency of buildings –throughout all the different stages of the building life cycle, from design to construction and refurbishment– to adopt more efficient measures in their respective decision realms. This article presents the methodology developed to create SEíS, a Semantic Energy Information System that integrates energy related data and facilitates services to different agents involved in the design, construction and maintenance of buildings
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