A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance

Improving building thermal energy performance is essential to reducing energy consumption, minimizing carbon emissions, and enhancing occupants’ thermal comfort. For this purpose, there is an increasing research interest in this field of building energy performance. This review aims to present a pre...

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Main Authors: Rajendra Roka, António Figueiredo, Ana Vieira, Claudino Cardoso
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2375
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author Rajendra Roka
António Figueiredo
Ana Vieira
Claudino Cardoso
author_facet Rajendra Roka
António Figueiredo
Ana Vieira
Claudino Cardoso
author_sort Rajendra Roka
collection DOAJ
description Improving building thermal energy performance is essential to reducing energy consumption, minimizing carbon emissions, and enhancing occupants’ thermal comfort. For this purpose, there is an increasing research interest in this field of building energy performance. This review aims to present a precise and systematic overview of the sensitivity analysis in optimizing the thermal energy performance of buildings. The investigation covers various aspects, including sensitivity analysis techniques, key measures and variables, objectives and criteria, software tools, optimization methods, climate zones, building typology, and climate change effects. The findings reveal that sensitivity analysis is a powerful technique for optimizing energy performance and identifying adaptive strategies such as dynamic shading, reflective coatings, and efficient HVAC set points to address climate change. Most of the study also highlights that the temperature set point is the key influential parameter in both heating-dominant and cooling-dominant climate zones. This review offers critical insights on advancing sustainable building design, informing policy, and guiding future research in energy-efficient building solutions.
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series Energies
spelling doaj-art-c6b2702e65c34b5e8fcd5479a6df0eaa2025-08-20T02:59:11ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732025-05-01189237510.3390/en18092375A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy PerformanceRajendra Roka0António Figueiredo1Ana Vieira2Claudino Cardoso3CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalCERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalGeotechnics Department, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, Av. do Brasil 101, 1700-075 Lisboa, PortugalCERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalImproving building thermal energy performance is essential to reducing energy consumption, minimizing carbon emissions, and enhancing occupants’ thermal comfort. For this purpose, there is an increasing research interest in this field of building energy performance. This review aims to present a precise and systematic overview of the sensitivity analysis in optimizing the thermal energy performance of buildings. The investigation covers various aspects, including sensitivity analysis techniques, key measures and variables, objectives and criteria, software tools, optimization methods, climate zones, building typology, and climate change effects. The findings reveal that sensitivity analysis is a powerful technique for optimizing energy performance and identifying adaptive strategies such as dynamic shading, reflective coatings, and efficient HVAC set points to address climate change. Most of the study also highlights that the temperature set point is the key influential parameter in both heating-dominant and cooling-dominant climate zones. This review offers critical insights on advancing sustainable building design, informing policy, and guiding future research in energy-efficient building solutions.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2375whole building energy simulationsensitivity analysisoptimization toolskey input parameters
spellingShingle Rajendra Roka
António Figueiredo
Ana Vieira
Claudino Cardoso
A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
Energies
whole building energy simulation
sensitivity analysis
optimization tools
key input parameters
title A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
title_full A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
title_fullStr A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
title_full_unstemmed A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
title_short A Systematic Review of Sensitivity Analysis in Building Energy Modeling: Key Factors Influencing Building Thermal Energy Performance
title_sort systematic review of sensitivity analysis in building energy modeling key factors influencing building thermal energy performance
topic whole building energy simulation
sensitivity analysis
optimization tools
key input parameters
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2375
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