Data-driven quantitative analysis of an integrated open digital ecosystems platform for user-centric energy retrofits: A case study in Northern Sweden

TL;DR

This paper introduces a data-driven, web-based digital ecosystem platform for user-centric energy retrofits, enabling efficient decision-making and energy efficiency analysis in building renovations, demonstrated through a case study in Northern Sweden.

Contribution

It presents a systematic, user-friendly web platform integrating quantitative analysis for energy retrofit decision support, advancing open digital ecosystems in energy renovation.

Findings

The platform supports energy renovation decisions with quantitative analysis.

It reduces decision-making costs for stakeholders.

The framework is applicable for regional large-scale pilots.

Abstract

We present an open digital ecosystem based on web-framework with a functional back-end server in user-centric energy retrofits. This data-driven web framework is proposed for building energy renovation benchmarking as part of an energy advisory service development for the V\"asterbotten region, Sweden. A 4-tiers architecture is developed and programmed to achieve users' interactive design and visualization via a web browser. Six data-driven methods are integrated into this framework as backend server functions. Based on those functions the users can be supported by this decision-making system when they want to know if it needs to be renovated or not. Meanwhile, influential factors (input values) from databases that affect energy usage in buildings are to be analyzed via quantitative analysis, i.e., sensitive analysis. The contributions to this open ecosystem platform in energy renovation are: 1) A systematic framework that can be applied to energy efficiency with data-driven approaches, 2) A user-friendly web-based platform that is easy and flexible to use, and 3) integrated quantitative analysis into the framework to obtain the importance among all the relevant factors. This computational framework is designed for stakeholders who would like to get preliminary information in energy advisory. The improved energy advisor service enabled by the developed platform can significantly reduce the cost of decision-making, enabling decision-makers to participate in such professional knowledge-required decisions in a deliberate and efficient manner. This work is funded by the AURORAL project, which integrates an open and interoperable digital platform, demonstrated through regional large-scale pilots in different countries of Europe by interdisciplinary applications.