A hybrid simulation model for urban weatherization programs

Abstract

In the face of climate change, cities are becoming interested in developing policies and programs that will increase sustainability and resilience in their neighborhoods. In particular, government officials, planning agencies, and residents of the City of Des Moines, Iowa, would like to find ways to improve the energy efficiency of their urban built environment. Weatherization of residential buildings is one way of reducing energy consumption, particularly in winter months. While financial incentives might increase residents' adoption of weatherization measures, research has shown that social interactions more strongly influence this decision. To enable stakeholders to explore different scenarios for encouraging weatherization, a hybrid simulation model that integrates an urban energy model with an agent-based model has been developed to connect the physical processes of built environment systems with the goals, constraints, and interactions that drive resident behavior. This paper describes an application of the model to a specific residential city block.

Simulation-based Sensitivity Analysis of Future Climate Scenario Impact on Residential Weatherization Initiatives in the US Midwest

“…Capitol East has been targeted by Habitat for Humanity's "Rock the Block" program, which includes building ramps and door modifications, repairing roofs, porches, siding, windows, driveways and sidewalks, insulating, weatherstripping, painting, landscaping and other maintenance projects. The hybrid simulation model described in this paper has been developed as a decision support tool that will help city officials, planners, and residents to develop policies and programs that will enhance these efforts and increase weatherization adoption among Capitol East residents [5].…”

“…Spatial information used to model the physical geometry such as building footprints, streets, sidewalks and lot boundaries was extracted from GIS maps that are maintained by the city of Des Moines [5]. The GIS data is in shape file (.shp) format, which is a vector data storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features [21].…”

“…All this information helped in generating the umi templates that were assigned to each house. An identification system for each house was derived from the parcel number of each lot and was used to cross-reference information between the Rhinoumi model and the Assessor's data [5]. To maintain privacy for the residents, the exact location of the block is not communicated in this paper.…”

“…All the houses in the area analyzed are residential and are of similar wood frame construction. Umi offers the ability to edit the material assembly of individual houses in the neighborhood, such that the potential impact of different weatherization strategies (e.g., re-caulking windows to decrease air infiltration; adding spray insulation in unfinished attics to prevent heat loss during the winter) can be tested [5]. A second template was then assigned to each house, increasing the thermal performance of the house's envelope and decreasing the infiltration rate of the attic to test the effects of weatherization.…”

“…Since the program began in 1976, the DOE has helped improve the lives of more than 7 million families by reducing their energy bills [18]. Furthermore, these upgrades not only increase energy performance, but also address health concerns associated with poor indoor air quality [5].…”