From building energy modeling to urban building energy modeling: A review of recent research trend and simulation tools

Initiatives aimed at retrofitting the existing buildings stock and constructing Zero Carbon Community (ZCC) have been recognized as highly effective measures for reaching the zero emission carbon goals set by the EU Commission by 2050. The Building Energy Modeling approach focuses only on typical individual building and it is hardly suitable for assessing the performance and the mutual interaction of a group of interconnected buildings. In this case the application of Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) is required. Research on UBEM constitutes the foundation for reducing the energy needs of the built environment; however, there is currently a lack of knowledge on UBEM concept, workflow and related simulation tools. This paper has twofold objectives; first presents an in-depth bibliometric analysis, through CiteSpace, to analyze the developmental trajectory of emerging simulation UBEM method. The analysis encompasses the distribution of authors collaborations, geographic and institutional cooperation in publications and research hotspots. Based on this, the paper summarizes the development trends and potential directions for research in the UBEM field. Furthermore, as a second objective, the paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the main UBEM tools with focus on the input and output data, simulation engine and data workflow. The final scope of this study is to offer to urban planners and policymakers a comprehensive framework as a starting point for approaching zero-carbon communities’ from both the concepts and the simulations analysis point of view.