WHY is the next step in improving energy demand modelling to forecast the domestic sector’s energy consumption.
The WHY Vision
Energy is consumed at household level to use appliances/machines that provide a service to the household members (i.e. heating, lightning, cooling, etc.). In many cases, this is a conscious and voluntary action but in some cases, the service automatically consumes energy to sustain its operation (like the refrigerator). The main objective of the WHY project is to understand what, when, how much and why energy is consumed at households.
In order to mitigate climate change effects, urgent action is required in all sectors of the economy to significantly reduce greenhouse gases emission. Energy System Models (ESM) are tools that help energy analysts, planners and policy makers to rationally describe energy systems and systematically evaluate the impacts of long-term scenarios. The WHY project develops innovative methodologies and a toolkit for short and long-term household energy consumption modelling. Use cases benchmark these models ranging from local to European-wide energy grids. The WHY Toolkit builds on the causality chain to model the energy demand, building on associations between measurable variables.
The WHY Layman's Report
Modelling to better understand and predict household energy demand
Are you...
A policymaker?
The WHY-Consortium recommends changing planning routines and urges develop efficient, equitable and sustainable policies to decarbonise the European building stock by 2050 alleviating potential regressive impacts, especially on low-income households (e.g. energy poverty). Read our Policy Briefs for Local Policy Makers and EU Policy Makers!
Watch how WHY supports local energy planning!
A scientist or researcher?
Than have a look at our published papers! Are you a behavoural scientist? You may want to learn more about how WHY improves the forecasting accuracy of policy intervention impacts. Given the long-term projections needed to assess the emission targets set by the different policies, the our method allows for long-term evolution of various scenarios.
Learn more on the Causal Diagram
An energy expert?
Are you involved in energy planning of residential dwellings? The WHY method is scalable from household size to entire energy systems. With our Causal Diagram we improve the understanding of human decision processes behind energy demand patterns, enabling to accurately forecast how different policies impact the household energy consumption. Five use cases are used to assess different policy scenarios with special focus on the EU Green Deal and the Renovation Wave policies. Here is how:
See how it works!
