UBEM Wiki¶

A comprehensive guide to Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) concepts, methodologies, and best practices.

What is UBEM?¶

Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) is a computational approach to estimate and analyze energy consumption at the urban scale. Unlike traditional building-level energy modeling, UBEM considers the entire building stock of a city or district, enabling:

• City-wide energy assessments
• Policy impact analysis
• Retrofit scenario planning
• Energy system integration
• Climate action planning

Key Concepts¶

Building Archetypes¶

Building archetypes represent typical building characteristics (construction, systems, occupancy) used to model groups of similar buildings efficiently.

Learn more: Archetype Library

Urban Data Integration¶

Integrating diverse data sources including building footprints, tax assessor records, satellite imagery, and survey data to create comprehensive building inventories.

Learn more: Urban Data Integration Workflow

Calibration¶

The process of adjusting model parameters to match observed energy consumption data, improving model accuracy.

Learn more: Running and Calibrating Workflow

UBEM Fundamentals¶

For an introduction to UBEM concepts and methodologies, see:

• UBEM Fundamentals - Core concepts and principles
• Build Your First UBEM - Step-by-step tutorial

EnergyAtlas Approach¶

EnergyAtlas implements UBEM through a five-stage workflow:

1. Urban Data Integration - Import and process building data
2. Template Definition and Assignment - Create and assign building archetypes
3. Running and Calibrating - Execute simulations and calibrate models
4. Scenario Design and Simulation - Model retrofit and policy scenarios
5. Results View - Analyze and visualize outcomes

Learn more: Workflows Guide

Resources¶

• EnergyAtlas Library - Pre-built archetypes, weather data, and retrofit measures
• Technical References - Advanced technical documentation