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2013
Conference Paper
Titel
The District Energy Concept Adviser: A software tool from IEA ECBCS Annex 51 to support Urban Decision Makers in planning District Energy Supply Schemes
Abstract
Within the framework of the German research initiative EnEff:Stadt (launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology), Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP has developed a computer programme which supports actors in the field of urban planning during the first stages of planning energy-efficient district concepts. This programme was developed in collaboration with international partners from IEA ECBCS Annex 51 "Energy Efficient Communities" and comprises a set of individual supporting tools. The very heart of the programme is a tool for the energy assessment of districts, which uses building archetypes and other pre-set configurations to allow for a quick data input mapping all the buildings in the district. Thus it enables the user to identify the energy saving otential of various strategies in the areas of building construction, technical building systems, and centralized supply systems. In addition to the main part, i.e., the numerical assessment of the energy needs of a designed or an existing district, international examples of energy-saving and eco-friendly districts are presented in a structured form; besides, strategies and technologies for minimizing the district energy consuption are described. A performance rating tool enables the user to compare energy consumption data to the national average of similar districts. The international version of the District Energy Concept Adviser (in English) is available as a free download from spring 2013. A German language version will be issued shortly afterwards. Other national translated versions will include Austrian (German language but Austrian boundary conditions) and French.