Work

Integrating activity-based transport and building occupancy models for campus-scale energy management

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Arrivals and departures lie at the intersection of travel and building occupancy behaviours which dominate the landscape of energy demand in urban areas. Although transport and building systems are clearly linked, existing studies rarely consider the interactions between these systems in their modelling frameworks, thus restricting the policy-relevant scenarios that can be tested. This paper contributes to the field of data-driven energy modelling by proposing a flexible framework to integrate the modelling of travel and building occupancy behaviours, in which a travel simulator is coupled with a building occupancy model through a proposed mesoscopic link. The framework is operationalised in the context of the South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, using the UK Time Use Survey data and Wi-Fi traceable logs. Implementing the framework for a hypothetical transport incident (i.e. sudden closure of the nearest underground station) generates people’s occupancy and circulation patterns across buildings, thus providing actionable insights for district-level smart grid planning and management. From a district planning perspective, occupancy schedules and dynamics in closed buildings are sensitive to incidents, whereas open and shared buildings are relatively stable. This finding indicates the need for flexible energy controls and smart grids with energy storage. From a building management perspective, occupancy durations generally reduce when affected by incidents, suggesting shortening the schedules of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. From a facility management perspective, big changes in occupancy of closed buildings indicate unstable demands for the surrounding equipment (e.g. e-scooters, chargers), and efficiencies may be gained by allocating spaces/schedules to meet the dynamic demand.

Source: Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science

DOI: 10.1177/23998083251343715

Authors: Huiqiao Hou, Jacek Pawlak, Aruna Sivakumar

Institutions: Peking University, Imperial College London

Language: English

Topic: Building Energy and Comfort Optimization

Subfield: Building and Construction

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650