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Building Heat Demand Forecasting by Training a Common Machine Learning Model with Physics-Based Simulator

Author

Listed:
  • Lotta Kannari

    (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Jussi Kiljander

    (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Kalevi Piira

    (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Jouko Piippo

    (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Pekka Koponen

    (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

Abstract

Accurate short-term forecasts of building energy consumption are necessary for profitable demand response. Short-term forecasting methods can be roughly classified into physics-based modelling and data-based modelling. Both of these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and it would be therefore ideal to combine them. This paper proposes a novel approach that allows us to combine the best parts of physics-based modelling and machine learning while avoiding many of their drawbacks. A key idea in the approach is to provide a variety of building parameters as input for an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and train the model with data from a large group of simulated buildings. The hypothesis is that this forces the ANN model to learn the underlying simulation model-based physics, and thus enables the ANN model to be used in place of the simulator. The advantages of this type of model is the combination of robustness and accuracy from a high-detail physics-based model with the inference speed, ease of deployment, and support for gradient based optimization provided by the ANN model. To evaluate the approach, an ANN model was developed and trained with simulated data from 900–11,700 buildings, including equal distribution of office buildings, apartment buildings, and detached houses. The performance of the ANN model was evaluated with a test set consisting of 60 buildings (20 buildings for each category). The normalized root mean square errors (NRMSE) were on average 0.050, 0.026, 0.052 for apartment buildings, office buildings, and detached houses, respectively. The results show that the model was able to approximate the simulator with good accuracy also outside of the training data distribution and generalize to new buildings in new geographical locations without any building specific heat demand data.

Suggested Citation

  • Lotta Kannari & Jussi Kiljander & Kalevi Piira & Jouko Piippo & Pekka Koponen, 2021. "Building Heat Demand Forecasting by Training a Common Machine Learning Model with Physics-Based Simulator," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-13, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jforec:v:3:y:2021:i:2:p:19-302:d:540242
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Li, Qiong & Meng, Qinglin & Cai, Jiejin & Yoshino, Hiroshi & Mochida, Akashi, 2009. "Applying support vector machine to predict hourly cooling load in the building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(10), pages 2249-2256, October.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Triebs, Merlin Sebastian & Tsatsaronis, George, 2022. "From heat demand to heat supply: How to obtain more accurate feed-in time series for district heating systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    3. Alexander J. Bogensperger & Yann Fabel & Joachim Ferstl, 2022. "Accelerating Energy-Economic Simulation Models via Machine Learning-Based Emulation and Time Series Aggregation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-42, February.
    4. Kalevi Piira & Julia Kantorovitch & Lotta Kannari & Jouko Piippo & Nam Vu Hoang, 2022. "Decision Support Tool to Enable Real-Time Data-Driven Building Energy Retrofitting Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.

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