Scholarly record

ANALYSIS OF REAL-TIME HEATING ENERGY DATA DURING THE BUILDING RENOVATION PROCESS

Stanislavs Gendelis, A. Jakovics, Eizens Putnins

Abstract

This paper analyses a multi-apartment residential building undergoing staged renovation during the heating season using real-time, hourly metered heat consumption data over two consecutive winters in a temperate-cold climate. The renovation is implemented in clearly identifiable phases, which enables an empirical, measure-by-measure assessment of changes in heating demand as works progress. The analysed interventions include insulation of basement heat distribution pipework, attic insulation, external wall insulation and window replacement. To ensure comparability under changing meteorological conditions, hourly heat use is normalised to outdoor air temperature using a piecewise linear regression approach with heating degree-based explanatory variables and a pre-renovation baseline, allowing the separation of weather-driven variability from renovation-driven effects and the identification of transitional and time-lagged responses. The results show that total weather-normalised space heating demand is reduced by approximately X–Y %, with individual measures contributing, for example, about A–B % reduction from attic insulation and C–D % from external wall insulation, while pipework insulation mainly affects distribution losses and start-up behaviour. High-resolution monitoring reveals step changes associated with the completion of specific measures, as well as commissioning-related anomalies that would be invisible in monthly billing data. The study demonstrates how staged, near-real-time feedback supports project control and measurement-based verification, advancing beyond common post-renovation evaluation practice by quantifying the incremental impact of each retrofit measure under real operating conditions.

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