Smart Energy Campus Transitions
Vasiliki Kourgiozou, Doctoral Researcher | Research Engineer, Buro Happold / UCL

The presentation will focus on the outcomes of a 4-year PhD project developing a framework that evaluates the potential to integrate smart energy systems at the university campus level within the context of urban energy systems decarbonisation. The framework was developed for university campus managers and operators to use and reduce carbon emissions on campus, improve user health and well-being and enhance operations.

The research has benefited from UCL’s Living Lab commitment to provide a test bed for research and innovation and the work carried out by Buro Happold and the researcher to evaluate the post-occupancy performance of major UCL existing building retrofits and new building projects.

The UCL Bloomsbury campus has been used as a reference system for this research project. Its location, within the heart of London is a characteristic example of an existing university network sharing infrastructure and continuously interacting with the urban district system. It therefore provides a model to demonstrate the intricacies and benefits of the adaptation to a smart campus with smart energy systems that is transferable to similar contexts.

To carve out transition pathways, the research involved university decisionmakers to develop different scenarios and prioritise interventions ranging from technical, environmental, economic and social indicators. The EPBD Smart Readiness Indicator calculation method was also adapted for campus evaluation with the use of DECs and to extract smart-ready interventions for the campus. The evaluation of the transition pathways involved a campus stock model that was developed with the use of the UCL developed 3DStock and SimStock models and operational energy data from the POE studies and UCL monitoring platforms to produce a UCL Bloomsbury ‘digital twin’.

The model captured different energy vectors and allowed for a multitude of energy interventions to be tested including retrofit options, renewable energy integration, demand-side response and flexibility.

Lessons Learned from Digital Twin Implementations
Simon Bell, HLM & Dr Ruth Kerrigan, Integrated Environmental Solutions

This presentation will provide an overview of performance enabled Digital Twins that were created for the University of Glasgow, including new and existing buildings, looking at whole building life cycle from design through to operation and refurbishment.

The presentation will provide insights into the lessons learned from creating these Digital Twins and will present recommendations for the different stakeholders that need to be involved in the process for different building typologies, a methodology for how to engage with these stakeholders, the steps required to ensure successful implementation and how to identify any contractual and organizational barriers that go beyond the technical implementation.

Finally, the presentation will address the importance of not looking at Digital Twins for buildings as a one size fits all approach but understanding that each building needs to be treated as a unique entity. The importance of data analysis as part of the approach to implementing the performance enabled Digital Twin will also be demonstrated.