Abstract:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations Member States in 2015, provide an overview of the necessary measures to tackle climate change. According to the SDG Progress Report 2023, education plays a significant role in climate mitigation; however, it has not been included in nearly half of the curriculums. Being EU’s buildings account for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions, Architecture Schools are responsible for teaching climate mitigation strategies. One of the primary strategies is energy conservation measures (ECMs).
Currently, ECM quantification relies on Building Energy Models (BEMs). Using BEMs as a teaching tool allows students to interact with building behaviours and energy consumption. Even so, BEMs often fail to represent reality precisely. For this reason, BEMs need to undergo a calibration process, which typically refers to the adjustment of various building systems and components to ensure that parameters are operating optimally within a specified range. The calibration of BEMs is developed by utilizing historical energy consumption data, utility bills, and other relevant information. Interestingly, a calibrated BEM, when fed with real-time data, can be transformed into a Digital Twin (DT), defined as a model that captures the real-time behaviour, characteristics, and interactions of various building components and systems.
The DT, utilized as an educational tool, has the potential to function as a virtual laboratory, providing an enhanced comprehension of building performance. DTs could help to detect errors and misbehaviours in building energy consumption. Furthermore, DTs could facilitate the evaluation of climate change consequences on building performance and the development of resilience strategies.
Hence, this research analyses DTs and defines their potential for case study elaboration. Consequently, a case-based methodology is developed for teaching environmental management and building design, suggesting its application in postgraduate programs at Architecture Schools. The DTs evaluated in this work have been developed by SaviArquitectura Research Team from Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Navarra.

Keywords:

Digital Twin, Building Energy Model, Energy Conservation Measures, Case-based Method.