This report describes the MODENA (MODello ENergetico Abitazioni) application created by RSE in collaboration with Università di Padova, to meet the need for a suitable tool to provide an assessment of energy consumption for different uses of domestic users, quickly estimate the possible effects of different interventions on individual case studies or identify future efficiency and retrofit scenarios on a national scale.
The application is based on a model that has as its input matrix the characteristics of the buildings and the sociodemographic variables found in the ISTAT dataset ‘Consumi energetici delle famiglie’, which reports data from a survey conducted on a sample of 20,000 Italian households. The ISTAT dataset also includes information on the technologies of household appliances and daily habits relating to energy consumption within homes.
The application, in Python language, is made up of several independent and easily modifiable blocks. Using the survey data and the instructions of the standards in force, it calculates the consumption of homes (electricity, natural gas, biomass, LPG and diesel) per hour, on a national or regional scale, considering the use of household appliances, home hot water production, heating and cooling. To evaluate these consumptions, the application uses a simplified building model formed by an equivalent electrical circuit with thermal resistances and capacities. In particular, to take into account the Italian building panorama, 144 types of homes and the climatic conditions of the 20 Italian regions are considered.
The consumption values evaluated with the application showed a good agreement with the national consumption values indicated by TERNA and IEA. In detail, the application estimated in a very satisfactory way the most representative consumptions, i.e., that of electricity and natural gas (differences with respect to the national data of 3% and 1% respectively), and, in a less precise way the remaining, consumptions (biomass, LPG and diesel), which however concern less important quantities that are more difficult to estimate.
The costs for energy consumption calculated with the application were compared with those declared by the users for cost classes reported in the ISTAT database. Also in this case, the results of the application can be considered valid, taking into account the intrinsic uncertainties in interviewees’ answers.