The role of building performance simulations in citywide and national global warming mitigation policy

Abstract

Global warming is one of the most significant challenges facing the global building sector. Effective policymaking requires support through building performance simulation (BPS) because most global warming mitigation measures in the building sector focus on granular technologies and occupant behavior, which are difficult to evaluate using conventional macro-scale models. This viewpoint introduces a low energy demand scenario and its specific mitigation measures in the building sector, and discusses the difficulty of evaluating these measures using conventional integrated assessment models. In addition, the role of BPS as a support tool for global warming mitigation policymaking is proposed. Based on these discussions, required functions for BPS is suggested, the most important of which are the consideration of building stock heterogeneity, reproduction of existing faults in buildings, reproduction of changes in occupant behavior, correct simulation of electricity load curves, development of future weather data, and reproduction of electricity generation from building-integrated photovoltaics.