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Explorative Multidimensional Analysis for Energy Efficiency: DataViz versus Clustering Algorithms

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  • Dario Cottafava

    (Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Turin 10100, Italy)

  • Giulia Sonetti

    (Interuniversity Department of Regional & Urban Studies and Planning, Politechnic of Turin, Turin 10100, Italy)

  • Paolo Gambino

    (Department of Physics, University of Turin, Turin 10100, Italy)

  • Andrea Tartaglino

    (Energy Management, University of Turin, Turin 10100, Italy)

Abstract

We propose a simple tool to help the energy management of a large building stock defining clusters of buildings with the same function, setting alert thresholds for each cluster, and easily recognizing outliers. The objective is to enable a building management system to be used for detection of abnormal energy use. We start reviewing energy performance indicators, and how they feed into data visualization (DataViz) tools for a large building stock, especially for university campuses. After a brief presentation of the University of Turin’s building stock which represents our case study, we perform an explorative analysis based on the Multidimensional Detective approach by Inselberg, using the Scatter Plot Matrix and the Parallel Coordinates methods. The k-means clustering algorithm is then applied on the same dataset to test the hypotheses made during the explorative analysis. Our results show that DataViz techniques provide quick and user-friendly solutions for the energy management of a large stock of buildings. In particular, they help identifying clusters of buildings and outliers and setting alert thresholds for various Energy Efficiency Indices.

Suggested Citation

  • Dario Cottafava & Giulia Sonetti & Paolo Gambino & Andrea Tartaglino, 2018. "Explorative Multidimensional Analysis for Energy Efficiency: DataViz versus Clustering Algorithms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:5:p:1312-:d:148189
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