Building heat consumption and heat demand assessment, characterization, and mapping on a regional scale: A case study of the Walloon building stock in Belgium

Energy consumption in buildings results in CO2 emissions and it is necessary to reduce energy consumption thus its related emissions. This research is included in the Wal-e-cities project, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and aims to create tools that facilitate the transition toward smart territory. The annual heat consumption (HC) and heat demand (HD) of Wallonia building stock of more than 1,700,000 buildings are assessed. Subsequently, the developed energy models are coupled with a geographic information system (GIS) to calculate and map the HC and HD. The HC and HD are calculated for each building and are represented by different levels of territorial aggregation, namely neighbourhood, municipality, and urban region scales. The highest HC values were observed in large cities and main industrial areas, whereas the lowest values were observed in rural areas. For residential sector, HC is mainly related to the number of dwellings, which differs from that of tertiary and industrial sectors where HC also depends on the nature and function of buildings. Based on mean values at the neighbourhood scale, the HD is 16.44% lower than the HC for the residential sector, 15.78% lower than the HC for the tertiary sector, and 9.26% lower than the HC for the industrial sector. The proposed energy models are validated. The relative differences between annual HC calculated in this study and that provided in the regional energy reports are-5.82% for the residential sector, -14.29% for the tertiary sector, and -2.02% for the industrial sector.

Automated summary

This study aims to provide tools for the transition to smart territories by assessing heat consumption and demand in buildings in Wallonia. It found that heat consumption is highest in major cities and industrial areas, and lowest in rural areas, with differences based on the nature and function of buildings.