Sustainability of urban energy systems is among the main concerns of planners. Improving energy efficiency is a major sustainability issue considering the population growth, limited energy resources and global climate change. Energy mapping enables decision makers and planners to visualize and evaluate the spatial patterns of energy consumption and to analyze future scenarios for improving energy performance (EP), such as renovation alternatives. The main input for energy mapping is the measured or estimated energy consumption of each building in a specific area. Energy meters are the preferable source to provide these data in an accurate and simple way. However, getting access to these data from utility companies in a disaggregated format is usually difficult, mainly because of privacy concerns. Therefore, it is often necessary to estimate the energy consumption of buildings using simulation combined with aggregated metering data. This paper will review recent approaches to develop energy mapping at the urban scale, as well as simplified energy simulation tools and computer modeling tools and formats including geographical information systems (GIS), CityGML and building information modelling (BIM). A case study, focusing on the energy map of Concordia University SGW Campus, is provided to demonstrate some of the reviewed approaches.
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