On an urban scale (by 2050, cities will be home to two-thirds of humanity), buildings must be viewed as active nodes in the energy system: energy producers, connected to the electrical grid, interacting at the neighborhood level, subject to a poorly understood microclimate, and inhabited by occupants whose behaviors are also poorly understood.
This theme focuses on studying and optimizing the performance of buildings or building complexes in their environment using a resolutely global approach. Interactions between buildings via energy networks can be studied up to the scale of a territory. This involves considering the specific characteristics of the spatial and temporal scales in terms of input data, modeling, experimental characterization, and performance to be optimized.
Scientific guidelines
With regard to energy production, we are focusing on developing "enhanced" solar cadastre tools that take into account the specific characteristics of the urban environment and its full scope.
Modeling solar potential on PV power plants (Diva for Rhino4Diva – G2Solaire project)
In addition to efforts to assess production potential (thermal and electrical), it is necessary to improve the balance between supply and demand. To address this issue, urban energy networks enable the large-scale pooling of local renewable and recovered energy sources, drawing on the abundance of resources and needs in a given area, with the aim of collective self-consumption. Particular attention is being paid to the evolution of urban heating networks towards low temperatures (4th generation networks), enabling the large-scale integration of renewable and recovered energy sources ( OREBE projects supported by the AURA region and RETHINE funded byADEME).
Buildings will thus potentially become prosumers (producers/consumers) and will help meet demand through decentralized production. Bidirectional substations, which will enable these local production capacities to be exploited, are a development focus that will contribute to the energy efficiency of the territory connected to the grid. The intermittent nature of renewable energies means that energy storage solutions must be included in order to manage the time lag between production and demand. This challenge translates into a strong demand for multi-criteria decision-making tools (energy, environmental, economic, etc.) for stakeholders in the field to help them make informed decisions about this energy transition. The integration and sizing of these different technologies therefore requires a dynamic systemic approach, based on an exergy analysis that characterizes the qualities of the energies involved (thermal, electrical, etc.) for the rational use of energy in a given area.