BenchSys 2023

The 2nd ACM SIGEnergy Workshop on Advancements in Building Energy Benchmarking Systems
(A SenSys/BuildSys 2023 Workshop)
November 14, 2023
Istanbul, Turkiye
  • Register through: https://sensys.acm.org/2023/registration/
    All accepted papers will be published in Scopus indexed ACM Digital Library

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    About BenchSys 2023

    Building energy benchmarking is a proven energy management strategy that can positively quantify - and relatively quickly provide objective and reliable information on building energy use and the benefits of improvements. Energy benchmarking is a growing practice in many cities across the world as part of the energy disclosure policy. Many cities have already started to reap the benefits of energy benchmarking with up to 8% energy savings. However, there remains a gap in the widespread adaptation of benchmarking methodologies in terms of their scalability and standardization (data acquisition, analytics, validation, reporting, and automation). Several government organizations, industry practitioners, and researchers are working towards building a holistic and standardized energy benchmarking system.

    The second ACM international workshop on “Advances in Building Energy Benchmarking” invites papers on the current developments in building energy benchmarking. Researchers and practitioners working on data acquisition technology and processes, data sharing protocols and policies, benchmarking modeling methodologies, standardization and widespread adoption, strategy and collaboration, case studies, open source platforms and crowdsourcing are invited to participate. The workshop also aims to explore the existing challenges in data acquisition techniques in emerging economies. It will foster a discussion on the widespread adoption of energy benchmarking methods while bringing together researchers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds to discuss related challenges and breakthroughs.

    Call for Papers

    BenchSys 2023 Call for Papers (PDF)
    The objective of this BenchSys workshop is to ascertain several ongoing research and advancements in the application of building energy use benchmarking and rating methods across countries, while connecting academic scholars, industry partners, government agencies and policy makers. Topics of interest for the workshop include (but are not limited to) the following:
    • Data acquisition technology and processes
    • Building energy data sharing protocols and policies
    • Building IEQ, IAQ, and Thermal Comfort related data analytics
    • Data-driven modeling methodologies
    • Top-down statistical analysis
    • Simulation-based energy benchmarking
    • ML, AI and analytical tools for enabling benchmarking
    • Standardization, scalability and widespread adoption
    • Urban-scale digitalization strategy and collaboration
    • Open source platforms and crowdsourcing
    • Advancements in energy disclosure policies and limitations
    • Novel (Smart) Methods: Demonstrated use of new and unconventional methods to measure energy use in facilities, e.g., GIS, Drones, Thermal Imaging
    • Case studies: Practical applications in faciities of employment of either unconventional or frugal innovation, low cost in collecting, and quantifying energy use that deems attention for scalability are particularly welcome

    Submission Guidelines

    Submitted papers must be unpublished and must not be currently under review for any other publication. Paper submissions must be at most 4 single-spaced US Letter (8.5"x11") pages, including figures, tables, and appendices (excluding references). All submissions must use the LaTeX (preferred) or Word styles found here. Authors must make a good faith effort to anonymize their submissions by (1) using the "anonymous" option for the class and (2) using "anonsuppress" section where appropriate. Papers that do not meet the size, formatting, and anonymization requirements will not be reviewed. Please note that ACM uses 9-pt fonts in all conference proceedings, and the style (both LaTeX and Word) implicitly define the font size to be 9-pt.


    Research Track: High-quality technical articles are solicited, describing advances in methods, design, implementation, and validation of building energy benchmarking systems are welcome under this category. This may also include demonstrated evidences supporting policy changes towards net-zero energy.

    Practitioners Track: BenchSys’23 would like to facilitate a forum exchange of ideas, stimulate active engagement with larger stakeholder group outside academia and document critical perspectives. For instance, fresh perspectives employing data-driven decarbonization opportunities in unconventional forms/functions/use type of buildings and facilities such as worship facilities, public buildings such as rural child care centre facilities, secretariat buildings, transportation hubs, public schools, healthcare facilities etc. are specially welcome. Topics describing new public policies, programs, their digital implementation and expected socio-economic and environment impact around the workshop theme of ‘advancements in building energy benchmarking’ are solicited.

    Henceforth, in addition to the previous edition, the BenchSys’23 opens a special call soliciting critical position articles (as short-papers or posters or documentaries or other creative forms) from practitioners, NGOs, policy makers, and think tanks (such as MoHUA and NIUA) who are championing and pushing the frontiers of both science, research, and policies both globally and regionally. This includes architects and urban planners working on large community transformation projects for large corporations or institutions or government agencies are welcome under this category. But the scope of employment of digitalization catalyzing democratization leading to decarbonization in their design and/or implementation has to be articulated well.

    The workshop solicits submissions under three categories:
    Submission formats:
    1. Technical papers: Upto 4-6 pages (everything except references), reporting on novel research, to be presented at the workshop as an oral presentation.
    2. Short paper and Posters: Submission from public administrators and practitioners can be made in posters, and short papers (2-4 pages) are welcome, in addition to regular technical research papers (4 to 6 pages).
    3. Documentary videos and other creative aids: Under this category, we solicit submissions inspired by other disciplines outside CS such as art and social sciences that stimulate engagement and active interaction leading to urban innovation. Authors submitting under this category have to clearly structure articulating their ideas and approach in a single page or a poster, indicating the relevance to the workshop audience, how it stimulates critical analysis & reflection among workshop participants, the originality, the creativity, and lastly, how they would like to present them in a hybrid mode. These creative submissions will also go through peer review as other submissions. However, these may not be indexed or published in workshop proceedings but will be archived in the BenchSys workshop portal.

    Submission link

    All submissions must be in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) format through the HotCRP: https://benchsys23.hotcrp.com

    Awards

    An award will be given for the Best Workshop Paper as well as for the Best Oral/Poster Presentation"

    Important Dates

    • Paper submission: September 8 September 24, 2023 (AOE)
    • Notifications: September 22 October 4, 2023 (AOE)
    • Camera-ready: October 8, 2023 (AOE)
    • Workshop: November 14, 2023

    Program

    The workshop will be held virtually on November 14, 2023 and times are with respect to IST. Link
    Zoom link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/84800667063
    11:00 - 11:10
    Opening Remarks
    11:10 - 11:30
    First Keynote Talk

    Urban transformation and Lessons from Pandemic

    Hitesh Vaidya (Former Director National Institute of Urban Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India)

    11:30 - 11:45
    Panel Discussion
    11:45 - 13:00
    Technical Session 1 (5 papers)
    1. Summer Electricity Consumption Patterns in Households Using Appliance Load Profiles
      Shishir Maurya (International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad), Ganesh CGS (International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad), Vishal Garg (Plaksha University), Jyotirmay Mathur (MNIT)
    2. Quantitative Relations between the Physical Characteristics of Street Trees and Their Cooling Potential A Case Study of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
      Alisha Chowdhury (IIT Kharagpur, India), Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    3. Exploratory analytics of factors influencing Indoor Air Quality: A case of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
      Tanya Kaur Bedi (IIT Kharagpur, India), Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya (IIT Kharagpur, India), Anurag Aman Kaushal (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    4. Utilizing Phase Change Material Integration for Passive Cooling in Direct Heat Gain Walls
      Vikash Chandra (IIT Kharagpur, India), Chirodeep Bakli (IIT Kharagpur, India), Prashant Anand (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    5. Energy-Efficient Retrofitting of Buildings in the Tropics Through Daylight and Solar Radiation Harnessing
      Induja V (CET, Kerala, India), Manju G. Nair (CET, Kerala, India), Abhilash Suryan (CET, Kerala, India)
    13:00 - 13:15
    Break
    13:15 - 14:00
    Second Keynote Talk

    Between the Scylla of data-deprived formalisms and the Charybdis of knowledge-deprived data

    Dr. Ardeshir Mahdavi (Institute of Building Physics, Services, and Construction Faculty of Civil Engineering Sciences, Graz University of Technology, Austria)

    14.00 - 15.15
    Technical Session 2 (5 papers + 1 poster)
    1. Developing portable Energy Benchmarking methods
      John McCulloch (CSIRO), Subbu Sethuvenkatraman (CSIRO), Mark Goldsworthy (CSIRO), Daniel Hugo (CSIRO)
    2. Heat Wave Impact on Urban Heat, Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption in Nashik City
      Ketaki Joshi (IIT Kharagpur, India), Ansar Khan (Lalbaba College, India), Chirag Deb (University of Sydney), Prashant Anand (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    3. Assessment of the Impact of Building Orientation on PMV and PPD in Naturally Ventilated Rooms During Summers in Warm and Humid Climate of Kharagpur, India
      Anurag Aman Kaushal (IIT Kharagpur, India), Prashant Anand (IIT Kharagpur, India), Bharath Haridas Aithal (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    4. Assessing IEQ Impact on Cognitive Difficulties in Educational Buildings at Varying Energy Usage
      Piyali Debnath (IIT Kharagpur, India), Jaya A R Dantas (Curtin University), Krassi Rumchev (Curtin University), Prashant Anand (IIT Kharagpur, India)
    5. Explainable Occupancy Prediction Using QLattice
      Ajith N Nair (IIT Kharagpur, India), Harshwardhan Tanwar (IIT Kharagpur, India), Pandarasamy Arjunan (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), Prashant Anand (IIT Kharagpur, India), Ardeshir Mahdavi (TU Graz, Austria)
    6. Information to Experiential Education: Advancing Building Energy Benchmarking in India (Poster)
      Balaji Kalluri (FLAME University, India), Ramanathan Subramanian (World Systems Solutions, Inc. USA), Vishnu Priya (Massey University, New Zealand)
    15.15 - 15.30
    Closing Remarks

    Each paper: 10 minutes presentation + 5 minutes Q&A

    Keynote Speakers

    Ardeshir Mahdavi
    Title: Between the Scylla of data-deprived formalisms and the Charybdis of knowledge-deprived data
    Speaker: Ardeshir Mahdavi (TU Graz, Austria) is an internationally recognized authority in Building Science. Prior to his current affiliation at the Institute of Building Physics, Services, and Construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sciences, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), professor Mahdavi held positions at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), and National University of Singapore (NUS). Professor Mahdavi conducts research in building physics, building simulation, building ecology, and human ecology. Professor Mahdavi has published over 700 scientific papers and has supervised over 65 doctoral students. Professor Mahdavi is the recipient of the prestigious IBPSA Distinguished Achievements Awards.

    Abstract: This presentation entails critical reflections on the role of data in occupant-centric building design and operation research. Thereby, the focus is on two clusters of ongoing research efforts: One cluster, which pertains to the development of predictive models of occupants' behavior in buildings, has been frequently hampered in the past by the rather limited sets of available empirical data. Specifically, a fruitful application of both stochastic methods and agent-based modeling to capture the dynamics and probabilistic appearance of occupancy-related processes requires the availability of robust and reliable behavioral data. It is not the specific genus of a formalism as such that establishes its credibility. Rather, as always in science, conformance to observational data remains the ultimate validity criterion. A second cluster of ongoing research and development efforts is motivated by the perceived success of the so-called "big data." It is assumed that the application of data mining techniques to data streams from multiple sources (e.g., monitoring systems, building automation, occupants' phones and other personal devices) can support operational optimization of buildings' energy performance and maintaining optimal indoor-environmental conditions. AI-based tools and techniques have indeed yielded effective computational solutions in a number of domains (such as those requiring powerful search algorithms) without relying on white-box (e.g., explicit, causal, or first-principles based) models. However, inherently black-box type methods have not been shown to be particularly suitable toward obtaining an in-depth understanding of causal phenomena, including those relevant to occupants' behavior in buildings. By conceptually revisiting the underlying premises of these two research clusters, this presentation intends to encourage a deeper assessment of the direction and potential of future research efforts toward occupant-centric energy-efficient building design and operation.
    Hitesh Vaidya
    Title: Urban transformation and Lessons from Pandemic
    Speaker: Hitesh Vaidya, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Govt. of India

    Abstract: TBA

    Organization

    General Co-chairs

    Prashant Anand
    Prashant Anand
    Department Of Architecture & Regional Planning
    IIT Kharagpur, India
    Balaji Kalluri
    Balaji Kalluri
    School of Computing and Data Sciences
    FLAME University, India
    Chirag Deb
    Chirag Deb
    Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
    The University of Sydney
    Priya Vishnu
    Priya Vishnu
    Building Services, School of Built Environment
    Massey University of New Zealand
    Pandarasamy Arjunan
    Pandarasamy Arjunan
    Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
    India

    Technical Program Committee

    • Abraham George, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Albert Thomas, IIT Bombay, India
    • Ashrant Aryal, Texas A&M University, USA
    • Ashan Asmone, University of Cambridge, UK
    • Chirodeep Bakli, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Daniel James Bishop, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
    • Gurubalan Annadura, IIT Bombay, India
    • Jay Dhariwal, IIT Delhi, India
    • Joy Sen, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Juan David Barbosa, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, UAE
    • Kishor Zingre, Northumbria University at Newcastle, UK
    • Mayank Kaushal, ETH Zurich, Sweetzerland
    • Nikhil Kumar, Hiroshima University, Japan
    • Raul Castano de la Rosa, Tampere University, Finland
    • Subrata Chattopadhyay, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Susanne Balslev Nielsen , NIRAS A/S, Danmark
    • Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Shashwat S, Northumbria University at Newcastle, UK
    • Tetsu Kubota, Hiroshima University, Japan
    • Vishal Kumar, Massey University, New Zealand

    Web and Publicity Chairs

    • Ajith N Nair, IIT Kharagpur, India
    • Prethvi Raj, TRAJECT, Netherlands

    Registration and Venue

    For registration and venue details, visa information, etcetera please visit the BuildSys webpage

    BenchSys 2022

    Proceeding
    Please visit the BuildSys Proceedings for more detail
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