Digital Twin for Energy Management in Residential Net Zero Energy Buildings

Abstract

Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) have been increasingly gaining attention in the construction industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. The need for net zero is part of the current climate action plan of the United States government which has its long-term strategy to achieve net zero in every sector including built environment by 2050. While extant research provides many valuable insights into the framework applications of Digital Twin (DT) for energy efficiency (and even net zero) in projects, industry participants remain concerned over its possible implementation based on the current resources available.A major gap found is the lack of literature for present net zero energy management in buildings especially for residential sector. Most of the energy optimization strategies for these net zero projects were proposals or strategies used for the design and construction phases and there was minimum focus on operations phase in literature that explored the how or what is being used to manage that energy and verify that the buildings remain as net zero after several years. The current literature also only focuses on the theoretical proposals for DT’s application but not the industry applications and so it is vital to address the practical reliability of this technology’s use in the industry and to understand the extent to which a DT can be practically useful in case of net zero projects. These gaps develop the purpose of this research is exploring the industry potential of Digital Twin technology to optimize energy management in residential Net Zero Energy Buildings. To achieve this aim, a thorough literature review and interviews with industry professionals were conducted for understanding the current state of practice in the industry to dive deep into how energy is being controlled and what energy data is being monitored and managed in the ‘existing’ net zero energy buildings. And to improve on the current state of practice, Digital twin’s implementation in the energy management framework is reviewed and a suggestive framework is developed. By exploring the intersection of DT in NZEBs through this research, the important factors for viable implementation of DT and its current progress, for energy management in residential NZEBs is address. The findings included that the tools and components used currently for energy management are the components which the digital twin technology is composed of and how the digital twin can integrate all these different siloed components and tools in one single platform and what different paths can be taken. The novel theoretical contribution of this study is development of a theoretical framework for incorporating DT in the current energy management system for residential NZEBs and practical contributions of this study is to the acceleration or ‘to make possible – the goal’ of achieving net zero by 2050.