commercial sector

The transition of the urban building stock and infrastructure to sustainable forms is a key challenge in modern planning. The purpose of this paper is to propose a simulation model for energy use in the Japanese commercial sector. This model enables a user to consider a variety of energy-management concepts and discuss how urban building stock and infrastructure can be transformed over the coming decades. The model is characterized by having a bottom-up structure, which contributes to improving the reliability of the simulation results.

Urban issues to be resolved concerning building energy systems involve not only global warming but also the heat island phenomenon, the planning of urban infrastructures for electricity generation and distribution, and water purification.