Energy-use modelling for residential buildings in the metropolitan area of Gran Mendoza (AR)

Most of the world's population is concentrated in cities and there is necessary to intervene in the management of energy consumptions to ensure a high quality of people life with good air quality and thermal comfort and an overall livability of the urban environment. Anthropic activities are the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions and this suggests the need of a different management of energy consumptions especially of buildings, one of the principal contributor of GHG emissions. The goal of this work is the evaluation of a simplified energy model that allows quantifying the spatial distribution of energy consumption at urban scale with a GIS tool. The case study is the metropolitan area of Gran Mendoza, an urban conglomerate comprising six departamentos in the central-western region of Argentina. The model estimates the energy consumption for space heating of residential buildings, after having classified the buildings according to their characteristics. This simplified model has been validated by the comparison with the real consumption data provided by the local company distributing natural gas. With this model, it is possible to elaborate energy strategies based on the real buildings heritage, identifying critical areas requiring a priority of intervention.