Energy modeling methodology for community master planning

Net zero energy is an influential goal guiding the building stock toward renewable energy resources. Increasingly, this target is scaled to entire communities, which may include dozens of buildings in each new development phase. Although building energy modeling processes and codes have been well developed to guide decision making, there is a lack of methodologies for community-integrated energy master planning. The problem is further complicated by the availability of district systems, which better harvest and store on-site renewable energy. In response to these challenges, this paper contributes an energy modeling methodology that helps energy master planners determine trade-offs between building energy saving measures and district system design. Furthermore, this paper shows it is possible to mitigate electrical and thermal peaks of a net zero energy community using minimal district equipment. The methodology is demonstrated using a cold-climate case study with both significant heating/cooling loads and solar energy resources.