UK-based computer scientists have created an artificial intelligence system that can forecast building emission rates of non-domestic buildings. Loughborough University’s Dr Georgina Cosma and postgraduate student Kareem Ahmed have designed and trained an AI model to predict emission rate values with 27 inputs.
Dr Cosma said: “It’s an important first step towards the use of machine learning tools for energy prediction in the UK, and it shows how data can ‘improve current processes’ in the construction industry.” Current methods can take hours or days to produce emission rates, and are generated by manually inputting hundreds of variables. The AI model – created with the support of engineering consultancy Cundall’s head of research and innovation, Edwin Wealend – was trained using large-scale data from UK government energy performance assessments to generate an emission value in a split second.
Using the new model, emission rates of shops, offices, factories, schools, restaurants, hospitals and cultural institutions were calculated – some of the most inefficient buildings in the UK. These rates were measured in order to gain insight into how energy performance can be improved, and to influence future design and renovation.
Emission rates are used to calculate a building’s energy performance certificate (EPC), and currently takes hours to calculate. Researchers claim that the new algorithm will speed up the generation of EPCs as well as offer insight into how to improve energy efficiency.
Dr Cosma pointed out that although commercial properties only make up 8% of all buildings, they account for a fifth of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. Mr Wealend said: “We hope to build on the techniques developed in this project to predict real, operational energy consumption.
“By predicting the energy consumption and emissions of non-domestic buildings quickly and accurately, we can focus our energy on the more important task – reducing energy consumption and reaching net zero.” Development finance lenders are keen to offer construction loans to SME builders that embrace green design innovation, according to bridging loan brokers Hank Zarihs Associates.
