City Energy Analyst — The Complete Guide: Energy Modelling for Districts and District Heating and Cooling
City Energy Analyst (CEA) is an open-source (MIT) simulation platform for urban energy systems, born at ETH Zurich. Instead of analysing a single building, it looks at a whole neighbourhood or city and lets you compare low-carbon technology scenarios in the early design stages.
City Energy Analyst
ETH Zurich (Architecture and Building Systems)
Urban energy modelling — hourly energy demand for many buildings, solar potential and district heating and cooling network design.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Geographic data — automatic gathering of buildings and streets.
- Hourly demand — energy use for every building in the area.
- Local potential — solar, geothermal and sewage-heat potential.
- District networks — design and optimisation of district heating and cooling networks.
- Grasshopper — an interface is available for that environment too.
Release status
The current generation of the desktop app is still in beta, and the previous series remains available for download. For a project on a tight schedule, choose the stable series. The software suits architects, urban planners and energy engineers — not the detailed design of a single building.
Related tools
For detailed simulation of a single building — EnergyPlus with OpenStudio. For calculating the output of solar systems — pvlib.
EnergyPlus
US Department of Energy
Annual building energy simulation — envelope, HVAC, thermal comfort and daylight. The US DOE engine.
Get it from the vendorOpenStudio
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Graphical workflow on top of EnergyPlus — geometry, systems and scenario comparison.
Get it from the vendor
pvlib python
pvlib python contributors
A Python library for solar PV modelling — sun position, irradiance on tilted surfaces and PV system output.
Get it from the vendor
SAM — System Advisor Model
NREL
Technical and financial modelling of renewable energy systems — annual yield and payback.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
A unique open tool for energy questions at neighbourhood and city scale — especially strong in the early design stages.