An approach to model the thermal demand of buildings. A case study using two districts of Graz.
The current paper deals with an approach to model the annual heating and cooling demand of buildings, using two districts of the city of Graz as case study. Hence, the main objective is to gather the demand patterns within different parts of the city and to localise demand hotspots. A determination of the heating and cooling demand of buildings is carried out via the calculation of the heat balance of individual buildings. The practical implementation consists of the generation of a building model and the proper demand calculation, which is performed via the Python programming language. Thermal gains and losses of buildings are calculated separately. This master thesis shows in detail which kind of effects have to be considered when determining the heating and cooling demand of buildings. While qualitative and quantitative statements can be made about the building quality and the demand patterns, the interactions of building geometry, age and type are also revealed. Moreover, the significant influence of climatic conditions is highlighted.