ECOS: Integrated and practical energy planning for new districts

In this paper, we propose a unified method for the integrated energy planning during the development of new districts for all involved actors. Taking energy related problems such as equipment choice and size, costs and environmental impact early into consideration avoids confronting engineers later on with difficult to resolve problems. We provide a method that has been proven during the bidding process of the Metamorphose project in Lausanne. During the planning of new districts, different stakeholders such as politicians, architects or urban plan- ners are involved in the definition of the requirements. Each actor has its own set of methods with its specialized tools to assure reaching his goals. Bringing the actors together and integrating their tools into the decision process from the beginning on helps finding a sustainable solution and economizes time for each actor. Based on the initial demand of the City of Lausanne, the following set of indicators is used: • operation and investment costs, • primary energy: renewable and fossil fuel usage, • greenhouse gas emissions and • exergy efficiency. A dynamic building simulation software, CitySim, defines the energy demand and estimates the solar irradiation on the roof tops. This demand is converted into a composite curve using EnerGIS. Applying process integration techniques identifies the best equipment size and type which will then be used to calculate the different indicators. The City of Lausanne defined the square meters to be constructed for each category. In addition to the private program with big multi-story dwellings and office buildings, the city included a public program with an Olympic swimming pool and a football stadium. Our proposed method considers both programs and evaluated systematically each proposal based on the criteria mentioned in the bidding process. Compared to the last public bidding process during the metamorphose project, this time, the winner was scored among the top scored proposals in the energy field. Besides energy, the jury used other criteria such as mobility and architectural design to identify their winner. Using expertise from different laboratories at EPFL, the City of Lausanne was able to consider a com- plex set of indicators to identify their winner.