Abstract
Energy efficiency in buildings is essential for economic, social, and environmental reasons. Under current
European legislation, buildings have to be certified with an energy efficiency index. To provide a fair
comparison of the energy performance in buildings we need a global and unified representation. In this paper
we propose the Energy Efficiency Ontology (EEOnt) to provide a foundation upon which this requirement can be built.
EEOnt extends the applicability of other ontological models of buildings incorporating energy efficiency
data and knowledge that can be calculated with high spatial and temporal resolution in what we call an
Energy Efficiency Landscape (EELB). These EELB’s provide significant information which allows a detailed
diagnosis of the energy efficiency within the building.
Consequently, EEOnt is capable of representing buildings and energy efficiency in a unified way. Furthermore,
it supplies a tool for managing the energy efficiency in buildings and constructing national
inventories. These two features link the global and particular needs of governments and users, thus
becoming key to both improve the energy efficiency in buildings and to implement viable certification
schemes.
Keywords:
- Ontology.
- Energy efficiency.
- Buildings.
- Certification.
- Index.