Speaker
Description
Increasing energy demand and the need for sustainable energy systems have initiated the global and German energy transition. The building and mobility sectors promise high potential for savings in final energy and greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy technologies. NESSI was developed to reduce the complexity of decisions for an efficient, resilient, affordable, and low-emission energy system. The flexible simulation and analysis software for decentralized energy systems in buildings and neighborhoods simulates thermal and electrical energy flows.
NESSI is a free online web tool for developing baseline and comparative scenarios for transforming an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable energy system. NESSI is open access and intuitive to use, even for non-energy experts. Scenarios can be saved, loaded, and compared. Our Nano Energy System Simulator NESSI extends energy research software to provide a decision support system for buildings and neighborhoods. NESSI enables the quantification of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of an individual energy system, helping to identify the right energy system for a location. This applies to new buildings and the transformation of existing buildings. Based on this, transformation strategies can also be formulated, thus supporting the local, German, and global energy transition.
With a rule-based energy management system, NESSI simulates hourly electrical and thermal energy flows in buildings and neighborhoods. The energy system components include various technologies for generating and consuming thermal and electrical energy. The loads are aggregated at the building or neighborhood level and covered by the selected components of this infrastructure in a predetermined order. NASA Merra 2 weather data is used to calculate the yields of photovoltaic and wind power plants. In general, user-friendliness is at the center of NESSI's development. This is facilitated by a coherent, straightforward user interface design. Predefined scenarios are offered as templates, and a progress bar guides users through the simulation steps. NESSI is adaptable to all screen sizes, and offers help texts for all input fields. Users can access pre-generated load profiles for households and businesses when simulating energy system scenarios. Demand data can be uploaded if no load profile meets the user's requirements.
NESSI has been evaluated and adapted several times in recent years, so constant iterations deliver the best possible result. Publications in scientific conferences and journals have ensured our simulator's user-oriented and scientifically valuable aspect.
Sarah Eckhoff, Maria C.G. Hart, Tim Brauner, Tobias Kraschewski, Maximilian Heumann, Michael H. Breitner (2023): Open Access Decision Support for Sustainable Buildings and Neighborhoods: The Nano Energy System Simulator NESSI, Building and Environment 110296
Maria C.G. Hart, Sarah Eckhoff, Michael H. Breitner (2023): Sustainable Energy System Planning in Developing Countries: Facilitating Load Profile Generation in Energy System Simulations, Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Maui 2023
Maria C.G. Hart, Sarah Eckhoff, Ann-Kristin Schäl, Michael H. Breitner (2023): Threefold Sustainable Neighborhood Energy Systems: Depicting Social Criteria in Decision Support Systems, Proceedings of the American Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Panama City 2023, Best Complete Paper Award Winner
