Research

Services

Ultra-high performance energy upgrades and construction of high-performance new buildings can only be carried out on a massive scale if clients are certain that they will achieve the energy savings predicted in the design phase. Thus, expectations are now high regarding energy performance guarantees, concerning both the existing building stock, where the performance guarantee is central to energy performance contracts, and new buildings, which, reaching very ambitious calculated performance levels, must now prove their low consumption levels in practice.

The CSTB has tools and methods for energy performance simulation and characterization in buildings.

Expertise

The CSTB offers services in the following areas of expertise:

  • integration into third-party applications of scientific computation cores for dynamic energy simulation
  • assessments of the basic performance of building components (envelope or production or control systems)
  • assessments of what components, such as the envelope or systems, contribute to the overall energy performance of a building, particularly technical assistance for “Title V” recognition under RT2012 (project or system modes)
  • development of methods and tools supporting the energy performance guarantee
  • development of algorithms for smart processing of building measurement data
  • high-level engineering to support project owners and project managers with construction projects

Resources

Laboratories

  • Semi-virtual laboratories, to connect an energy production system or an actual innovative command/control system to a simulated building (Eu.BAC, PEDAGO and PEPSY laboratories)
  • Multi-scale life-cycle assessment software, from the material to the building
  • Insulation-materials and envelope-component measurement laboratories (hygrothermal, optical, mechanical, physicochemical characteristics) and materials durability tests. These laboratories are dedicated to research and are unique insofar as they are very customizable and configurable.
  • The MARIA laboratory: a configurable private home outfitted with measurement equipment; emulation possible of occupancy conditions

Operational methods

  • Smart-EPC: instrumented long-term housing tracking solution (hardware + software) - produces a comprehensive automated energy audit
  • ISABELE: short-term measurement of the performance of a building's envelope
  • VALENR: instrumented monitoring of renewable energy production systems - produces an analysis of efficiencies

Special software tools

  • Simulation computation cores: COMETH (dynamic energy simulation of a building, compatible with THBCE), DIMOSIM (neighborhood-scale dynamic energy simulation)
  • Environmental assessment computation cores: ELODIE
  • Statistical computing cores: QIRIEL (statistical inference engine of the characteristics of buildings and their occupancy), CRONIQ (statistical generation of electric charge profiles)
  • BATILAB laboratory for in situ measurement processing algorithms (error correction, recognition of energy uses, identification of thermal models, etc.)

References