Contributing up to one-third of the consumed energy, buildings are the crucial and dominant energy consumer in an energy system. Other than that, due to the increased integration of renewable energy sources, the role of a building as a passive consumer evolves to an active prosumer gradually. Therefore, with the changing energy infrastructures, it is important to analyze the evolving performance of buildings.

This project is focused on the analysis of Lifecycle Performance for clusters of high performing buildings with community energy infrastructures. Within the research, first, the infrastructure change considering heating, cooling, and electricity as a whole will be studied. Then, a tool for flexible and sustainable energy infrastructure study for a local community will be developed using Life Cycle Performance design. The method will be used to evaluate business cases for smart and energy-neutral buildings and communities.

In parallel, the project also aims to develop a multi-scale and multi-objective control system which not only includes electricity but also heat energy. This system will exploit the enormous potential flexibility within a collection of buildings in a neighborhood, which would support grid operators, as well as enable the neighborhood to become energy neutral community.