Guidelines - ReLIFE-Project-EU/relife-wiki GitHub Wiki
Guidelines
Introduction
This page provides practical guidance for using the ReLIFE Platform and its three tools. It is intended for all user types β homeowners, portfolio managers, financial analysts, policymakers, and researchers β who want to get the most out of the platform's analytical capabilities.
The guidelines are organized by tool, with a preliminary section to help you identify which tool best fits your needs. Each section covers recommended inputs, workflow tips, and advice on interpreting results correctly given the current state of implementation.
[!NOTE] The ReLIFE Platform is under active development. Some features described in this wiki are partially implemented or planned. Refer to the Current Limitations notes in each tool section before drawing conclusions from results.
The ReLIFE Platform
The ReLIFE Platform is a web-based application that delivers three user-facing tools, each targeting a different audience and scale of analysis. It is powered by three backend services β the Forecasting Service, the Financial Service, and the Technical Service β which handle energy simulation, financial modelling, and multi-criteria decision analysis respectively. Each tool composes these services differently depending on the depth of analysis and the type of output its audience requires. For a full overview of the platform architecture, see The ReLIFE Platform.
Choosing the Right Tool
Before starting, identify your context and goal. The table below summarizes which tool is appropriate for each use case.
| I want to⦠| Recommended Tool |
|---|---|
| Explore renovation options for my home or a single small building | Home Renovation Assistant (HRA) |
| Assess and prioritize renovations across a portfolio of buildings | Portfolio Renovation Advisor (PRA) |
| Analyse renovation strategies at regional or national scale | Renovation Strategy Explorer (RSE) (planned) |
If you are unsure, start with the HRA. It is the most guided and accessible entry point to the platform, and it covers the most common single-building renovation decision scenario.
Home Renovation Assistant (HRA) Guidelines
The HRA is designed for homeowners, tenants, and small building owners who want to evaluate renovation options for a single building.
Before You Start
- Have your building location ready (address or coordinates). The tool uses location to match a reference archetype and retrieve climate data.
- Know your building type, approximate construction period, and number of floors. These are needed for archetype matching.
- Prepare any cost or financing inputs if you want financial indicators (ROI, NPV, payback). Some cost fields may require manual entry due to current backend limitations.
Step-by-Step Tips
- Building Information β Enter location and basic characteristics. Review the matched archetype carefully. If the suggested archetype does not reflect your building well, adjust the key parameters before proceeding.
- Energy & Renovation β Select the renovation measures you want to evaluate. Currently supported measures are focused on envelope improvements and air-water heat pump installation. Measures outside this scope may not be available.
- Results & Decision Support β Compare scenarios using the energy and financial outputs. The persona-based ranking is available in the UI but is currently powered by a local mock MCDA service, not the live Technical API. Treat ranking results as indicative guidance rather than final recommendations.
Interpreting HRA Results
- Energy results (baseline vs. renovated) and EPC comparisons are backed by live Forecasting API calls and can be used with confidence.
- Financial indicators (ROI, NPV, IRR, payback, risk assessment) come from live Financial API integration and are reliable within the assumptions you provide.
- Persona-based ranking is illustrative. It will be replaced by a full Technical API integration in a future release.
[!IMPORTANT] Do not use the current HRA ranking output as a substitute for professional energy advice or a certified EPC assessment. It is a decision-support aid.
Portfolio Renovation Advisor (PRA) Guidelines
The PRA is designed for financial institutions, ESCOs, and large-scale building owners who need to evaluate renovation options across multiple buildings.
Before You Start with PRA
- Decide whether you will use CSV import or manual entry to define your portfolio. CSV import is faster for large portfolios.
- If using CSV, ensure your file includes all required columns:
building_name,lat,lng,category,country,floor_area,construction_year,number_of_floors,property_type. Missing required fields will cause validation errors. - Decide on a financing scheme before starting. Currently, only Equity and Debt are available for analysis. EPC, Leasing, and PPA are visible in the UI but marked as "Coming Soon".
CSV Preparation Tips
- Use consistent units (floor area in mΒ², coordinates in decimal degrees).
- Include optional columns (
capex,annual_maintenance_cost) if you want more accurate financial outputs. - Validate your CSV against the required schema before uploading to avoid step-by-step errors mid-workflow.
Step-by-Step Tips for PRA
- Building Portfolio β Import your CSV or add buildings manually. Review validation warnings for each row before proceeding.
- Energy & Renovation β Select renovation measures to apply across the portfolio. The same partial measure support as the HRA applies here (envelope + air-water heat pump).
- Financing β Choose Equity or Debt. For Debt, configure loan terms carefully β financial indicator outputs are sensitive to interest rate and term assumptions.
- Results β The analysis runs per building and aggregates at portfolio level. Use the progress tracker to monitor completion. Review per-building outputs before relying on portfolio summaries.
Interpreting PRA Results
- Per-building energy results and financial indicators are backed by live API calls and are reliable within the inputs provided.
- Portfolio-level summaries aggregate per-building results β verify individual building outputs before drawing portfolio-level conclusions.
- MCDA ranking is not yet connected to the Technical API in the PRA runtime. Any ranking behaviour shown in the UI should be treated as interim.
[!IMPORTANT] The PRA is intended for screening and prioritization. It is not a substitute for detailed project-level due diligence or certified energy audits.
Renovation Strategy Explorer (RSE) Guidelines
The RSE is intended for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers working on regional or national renovation strategy analysis. Unlike the HRA and PRA, it is designed for strategic planning at scale β helping users explore how different renovation strategies could affect energy use, investment needs, and emissions across a city, region, or country.
[!IMPORTANT] The RSE is not yet available as an analysis workflow. The platform currently shows a "Coming Soon" landing page at
/strategy-explorer. No data input forms, interactive workflow, API orchestration, or results dashboards exist in the current runtime. No analysis can be run at this time.
Planned Inputs (Future)
Once implemented, the RSE is expected to work with building-stock level inputs rather than individual-building definitions. Planned configuration inputs include:
| Planned parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Country / Region | Geographic scope of the analysis |
| Renovation target volume | Share or number of buildings to renovate |
| Time horizon | Target horizon for the strategy |
| Intervention distribution | Phasing of renovation measures over time |
Planned Outputs (Future)
The RSE is expected to provide aggregated, policy-oriented outputs such as:
| Planned output | Description |
|---|---|
| Investment requirements | Aggregate capital needs by strategy/scenario |
| Energy savings | Energy reduction estimates at building-stock level |
| Emissions impact | COβ-related projections and comparisons |
| EPC distribution trends | Changes in EPC classes across the stock |
| Strategy comparison views | Side-by-side comparison of policy scenarios |
Planned Workflow (Future)
Once implemented, a typical RSE session is expected to include:
- Select geographic scope (country or region).
- Configure renovation strategy assumptions (target volume, time horizon, phasing).
- Review building-stock baseline analysis.
- Compare strategy scenarios and projected impacts.
- Export results for policy communication and planning.
This section will be updated with full guidelines when the RSE workflow becomes available.
General Best Practices
The following recommendations apply across all ReLIFE tools:
- Use realistic inputs. The quality of energy and financial outputs depends directly on the accuracy of the building data and cost assumptions you provide. Overly optimistic or placeholder values will produce misleading results.
- Understand the climate scenarios. The Forecasting Service simulates performance under present, 2030, and 2050 climate conditions. When comparing scenarios, make sure you are comparing the same climate horizon.
- Do not rely solely on automated rankings. The MCDA ranking features are decision-support aids. Professional advice, site assessments, and certified audits remain necessary for investment decisions.
- Check the implementation status. Before interpreting any output, consult the "Current Implementation Snapshot" tables in each tool's wiki page to understand which features are backed by live services and which are still under development.
- Export and document your results. Where export functionality is available, save your results at each step. The platform is in active development and session state may not always persist.
How To Cite
Please refer to the How To Cite section on the Welcome Page.
Authors And Reviewers
Author: Francesca Conselvan
License
The ReLIFE open source projects are licensed under the EUPL-1.2 license. Please check each repository for project-specific details.
Acknowledgement
This work is carried out within the ReLIFE project and is co-funded by the European Union (CINEA) under Grant Agreement No. 101167067.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.