Digital Twins for Upscaled Retrofits

DITUR

DITUR (short for Digital Twins for Upscaled Retrofits) is a Flux 50 and VLAIO supported project, that brings together a consortium of multiple research institutes, universities, and industry partners to investigate data-driven methodologies for upscaling and accelerating the renovation of buildings, which is required for reaching the 2050 climate goals.

Avineon and Tensing take part in this research consortium, investigating the potential of advanced 3D building models and Digital Twin concepts to support this building renovation challenge. Whitin this consortium, Avineon acts as a partner for 3D modeling and Tensing takes on the role of developing the Digital Twin infrastructure and data integration processes.

THE NEED

Digital Twin technology plays an increasingly important role for modeling, monitoring, analyzing, and simulating complex "what-if" scenarios and policy options for the built environment. At times of increasing energy prices and global climate urgency, there is a high need for decision support systems to assess strategies for the reduction of the building energy demand and the associated CO₂ emissions, both at the individual level and at the district or city level.

With over 40% of the building stock in Europe being built at a time when energy efficiency was of a lesser concern than today, both international and national climate goals require a drastic acceleration of the building renovation rates.

ditur interface_Cropped-01

THE SOLUTION

The Digital Twin designed within this research project is a virtual representation of the building stock, established through accurate 3D modeling and enriched with additional geometry representing windows, chimneys, and solar panels, in addition to attributes relating to the energy efficiency of the buildings.

All the building information is disclosed via an Esri and FME powered platform that, on the one hand, allows the analysis of the renovation potential of the buildings and, on the other hand, allows to produce custom reports for different stakeholders, all with the goal of increasing the renovations in the residential housing market.

THE RESULT

This Digital Twin concept facilitates informed decision making for different stakeholders (cities, social housing companies, home owners, etc.) providing answers to the following questions:

What is the most cost-effective way to reach a specific Building Energy efficiency label (EPC)?
Which overall EPC is achievable for a number of buildings, given a fixed budget?
How can I optimize my renovation budget for a given set of buildings?
How can I track the renovation status or energy efficiency improvement for a given building stock or district?
What common renovation measures have the biggest impact when promoted on a district level?
How do renovation strategies translate in reduced CO₂ emissions?

Interested?