| WP3: Models and Tools |

Overview

In WP3 we aim to address the invisibility of informal settlements in existing energy models. In particular, existing models typically rely on a strict dichotomy of buildings as “residential” or “non-residential” making no allowance for the diverse range of economic activities which exist in informal settlements and ignoring the importance of communal spaces outside the strict confines of the dwelling for these activities. Where existing building energy simulation studies have sought to explore informal settlements, they have focussed on alternative morphologies with limited grounding in the everyday social, economic and energy consuming habits of their inhabitants.

WP3 will use the data generated by WP2 to answer two Research Questions
  • How can the use of space and energy practices of slum-dwellers be represented in energy models?
  • How can models allow us to visualise, communicate and analyse grounded and expert knowledge in order to inform equitable urban development?

Methodology

Data processing. We will analyse and structure the data collected through WP1&2 into datasets which we will make available to the international energy modelling community. We will collaborate with IBPSA project 1 ( https://ibpsa.github.io/project1/), which is developing data models for urban simulation to ensure the datasets are in the most appropriate formats and to promote their use by the wider community. This phase of work will draw on the combined expertise of FCPV in participatory methods and CRDF-CEPT in building energy simulation to develop high-quality datasets to facilitate the incorporation of informal settlements in building energy models.

Simulation and validation. We will use UCL’s SimStock modelling platform to combine these datasets with geometric data from UAV surveys to create thermal simulation models which we will use to understand the principal drivers of energy consumption and thermal (dis)comfort and identify potential solutions including upgrading of building fabric and the addition of solar PV. As part of this phase, UCL and CRDF-CEPT will deliver training to develop a regional centre of excellence for building energy simulation in Lima, this will be hosted by UNI and supported by PUCP.

Communication and impact. We will present energy models for each settlement to policymakers and other stakeholders to explore how they can be applied most effectively taking into consideration the impacts of their application. Following this workshop, we will develop user interfaces to meet the needs of policymakers and address the concerns of other stakeholders. During this phase we will also produce a special issue of Buildings and Cities Journal on the representation of marginalised communities in models and decision-making tools for urban energy planning in the global South.

WP3 Team

Pamela is a Senior Research Fellow in the UCL Energy Institute where her research focuses on large-scale building energy models and their application to cities in the global South and the application of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in such large-scale models. She established and leads the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis work stream for the IEA EBC Annex 70 which is working to develop methods for improving the empirical evidence on energy demand in the building stock and is co-chair of UCL’s Energy and Development Group. She has 15 years experience of developing complex multi-stakeholder investments in public infrastructure projects in the UK.
Rajan Rawal is a CRDF Professor at CEPT University.CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) supports his teaching activities at CEPT University. He teaches energy-efficient built habitat, energy modelling, energy policy at postgraduate level. His work emphasis is on ‘energy performance of human habitat’ and ‘architectural science education’.Presently, he is Executive Director of “Centre for Advanced Studies in Building Science and Energy” (CARBSE) at CRDF. Prof Rawal led Indo-US Joint Clean Energy R & D Centre – Building Energy Efficiency Sector, and is presently leading Indo-UK project on Energy Demand Reduction and Mission Innovation challenge on heating and cooling in buildings from India side. He is a member of the International Energy Agency task 69 on low energy buildings and senior expert at Global Building Performance Network.
Martín Wieser is an Architect, with a master’s degree in “International Development” from the Polytechnic Foundation of Catalonia and a PhD in “Energy and Environment in Architecture” from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Principal professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) in the area of Technology. Currently, he is part of the board of directors of the Centre for Research on Architecture and the City (CIAC-PUCP). Researcher and consultant on daylighting and passive cooling and heating in buildings.
Marion Verdiere is a research assistant at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) for the GEMdev project. She is a French architect focused on territorial development for improving local daily life. She has been involved for 8 years in a development project with the association Mano a Mano Perú in marginalised neighbourhoods of the northern periphery of Lima (Puente Piedra, La Ensenada). There, she has reflected alongside the inhabitants of the area on the design of public spaces in their community. She has participated in the creation of the Homogeneos project, a Peruvian initiative which works in public spaces to design the preparation of neighbourhood development plans, responding to local needs. Recently, she has also done consulting in private projects reflecting on the city of the future, using natural elements.
Paul is an architect and sustainable energy specialist with 25 years’ experience in industry and 15 years in academia. Paul is Professor of Energy and Building Performance at the UCL Energy Institute, where he is also Deputy Director and leader of the Building Stock Lab. He is also vice-chair of the International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities programme. Paul has conducted research and provide consultancy support to public and private sector organisations in the UK and internationally. His main areas of interest are the ‘Performance Gap’ between expectations and predictions of building energy and environmental performance and the reality experienced by building owners and occupiers; and the energy and environmental performance of the existing building stock at the urban and national scale.
Ivan is a Research Associate in Building Physics, Modelling & Programming and is a member of the RCUK Centre for Energy Epidemiology. His current work involves the dynamic simulation modelling of the energy consumption of the non-domestic building stock of England and Wales. It also includes further development of the SimStock modelling tool which is a platform for a non-domestic building stock analysis based on automated sampling, model creation, simulation, and results processing. Ivan’s research interests are related to improving a built environment by designing energy efficient buildings and cover broad range of building and building services topics including: low-energy buildings, building heat transfer; thermal comfort; energy efficiency, optimal control and operation of HVAC systems; modelling of buildings and HVAC systems using dynamic simulation tools, etc.
Dominic is a Research Fellow who works with UCL Energy to develop building stock models and the interfaces to make those models accessible to wider stakeholders. He believes in the importance of making research data open and accessible to empower communities to support action to tackle climate change. Dominic has worked on the London Building Stock model and London solar opportunity map both of which are openly accessible online. Dominic is a trained architect who previously specialised in low carbon retrofit. He holds a masters in advanced spatial analysis and data visualisation from University College London.
Arjun is a Research Associate at Centre for Advanced Research Building Science and Energy (CARBSE) CEPT University. He is a civil engineer by trade and holds specialisation in Building Energy Performance. His major area of focus is improving the Energy Efficiency in built environment through research and their application. He holds experience and expertise in Building energy modelling, building physics, data analysis, research, tool development, python programming, machine learning, image processing using deep learning, etc.
Kartikay Sharma is an urban energy researcher with five years of high-level expertise in urban and building energy simulation, with detailed understanding on building and its interaction with the environment. He is a civil engineer with Master of Technology in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. Along with urban energy modelling portfolio, he has an extensive understanding of urban data collection via utilizing UAV and sensors including LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry. He is currently contributing as lead researcher for creating a 3D city model for energy use analysis for 300 km2 Ahmedabad city.