Coupling of GIS and Matlab for climatic zoning validation for building energy efficiency applications

• Grant number: 18/00976-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: August 23, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Lucila Chebel Labaki
• Grantee: Angélica Segovia Walsh García
• Supervisor: Daniel Costola
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Strathclyde, Scotland
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/14617-0 - A performance-based procedure to support the validation of climatic zoning for building energy efficiency applications, BP.PD

Abstract

Climatic zoning validation has important implications in the global energy panorama, however little is known about this subject. A recent study introduced a procedure to address this gap, as part of the postdoctoral research project currently developed in Brazil. This procedure consists in quantifying the level of mismatch between climatic zones and building performance obtained through simulation. To quantify such mismatch, maps representing the performance of the building stock targeted in the climatic zoning are compared with climatic zoning boundaries using a new climatic zoning quality index, the Mean Percentage of Misclassified Areas (MPMA). This index is useful for highlighting qualities and deficiencies of existing climatic zoning methodologies. However, further research is needed to apply this method in complex scenarios. One of the challenges for its application is the difficulty of handling large datasets, with several variables sparsely distributed in space. This data manipulation can be time consuming and prone to errors, leading to results with high levels of uncertainty. Recent advancements facilitating new insights in this topic are the increased access to programming, high-performance computing and the popularization of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Despite such advancements, there are few studies dealing with climatic zoning validation. In this context, this study proposes a procedure for dealing with the complexity of the performance-based climatic zoning validation by coupling programming and GIS. This procedure explores the interoperability between the Mapping toolbox of Matlab and the ArcGIS version 10.5 to automate the post-processing of building performance data to calculate the MPMA. The procedure will be tested using simulations results in terms of Energy Use intensity of one building archetype of the DOE Commercial building stock of the U.S. and the ASHRAE Climatic zones. The results of this research will allow further developments to test the robustness of the Performance-based climatic zoning method, providing the means to explore complex climatic zoning validation scenarios efficiently and accurately. Results of this study will contribute to the development of a solid mechanism to explore and validate complex climatic zoning methodologies, such as the Brazilian case. Object of study of the Postdoctoral research currently developed in Brazil.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

WALSH, ANGELICA; COSTOLA, DANIEL; LABAKI, LUCILA CHEBEL. Performance-based climatic zoning method for building energy efficiency applications using cluster analysis. ENERGY, v. 255, p. 14-pg., 2022-09-15. (18/00976-1, 17/14617-0)

WALSH, ANGELICA; COSTOLA, DANIEL; LABAKI, LUCILA CHEBEL. Validation of the climatic zoning defined by ASHRAE standard 169-2013. ENERGY POLICY, v. 135, DEC 2019. (18/00976-1, 17/14617-0)