Tool 1 - ReLIFE-Project-EU/relife-wiki GitHub Wiki
The Home Renovation Assistant (HRA) is the ReLIFE tool for homeowners, tenants, and small-scale building owners who want guidance for a single building renovation.
In plain terms, this tool helps you explore renovation options for one home (or one small building) and compare the likely impact before making decisions. It is designed to answer practical questions such as: Which measures should I consider first? How much could energy performance improve? What might the financial outcome look like under different assumptions?
The HRA brings together building inputs, renovation scenario evaluation, and financial results in one guided workflow. It lets users test supported renovation measures, compare scenarios side by side, and review decision-support ranking in a format that is easier to understand than raw technical calculations.
The current web UI provides a usable HRA workflow, but some parts of the target design are still under development.
Note
Current runtime behavior: the HRA uses real Forecasting, Financial, and Technical API integrations in the active user flow. Forecasting and Financial APIs power the core calculations, and the decision-support ranking step calls the Technical API.
| Area | Current status |
|---|---|
| HRA workflow | Available as a 3-step wizard |
| Forecasting integration | Implemented (baseline + renovation simulation path) |
| Financial integration | Implemented (including financial indicators and risk assessment calls) |
| Technical API integration | Used in the decision-support ranking step |
| MCDA ranking | Available in UI through the Technical API |
| Renovation measure simulation support | Partial (envelope measures are the main supported path; some system scenarios are also analyzed) |
The HRA currently follows a guided three-step wizard:
flowchart LR
A["Step 1<br/>Building Information"] --> B["Step 2<br/>Energy & Renovation"]
B --> C["Step 3<br/>Results & Decision Support"]
- Building Information: The user enters building details and the tool matches the building to a reference archetype.
- Energy & Renovation: The tool evaluates selected renovation measures using the current Forecasting integration and runs financial calculations through the Financial service integration.
- Results: The user compares scenarios, reviews energy and financial outputs, and can run persona-based ranking for supported scenarios through the Technical API.
Important
The HRA ranking step is a live Technical API integration, but it still focuses on the currently evaluated envelope packages and some KPI inputs remain interim while the broader integration is being expanded.
The HRA uses an archetype-based building input workflow.
| Input method | Current behavior |
|---|---|
| Archetype selection | User provides building/location data and the tool matches a reference archetype |
| Modified archetype | User starts from a matched archetype and adjusts selected parameters |
Typical inputs in the current HRA flow include:
- Location (including map-based position / coordinates)
- Building type / category
- Construction period
- Core building characteristics derived from the matched archetype
- Optional cost and financing inputs used for financial calculations
The current financing options in the HRA are:
| Option | Current status |
|---|---|
| Self-funded | Available |
| Loan | Available |
| Optional incentives | Available as supplementary inputs |
Note
Some cost fields may need explicit user input in the current implementation because of temporary backend/API limitations.
The HRA currently provides scenario comparison and decision-support outputs in the UI.
| Output | Current status |
|---|---|
| Baseline and renovated energy results | Available |
| EPC-related outputs / comparisons | Available in the HRA results workflow |
| Financial indicators (for example ROI/NPV/IRR/payback-related outputs) | Available through Financial API integration |
| Financial risk assessment outputs | Available through Financial API integration |
| Persona-based ranking / recommendation ordering | Available through the Technical API for supported envelope scenarios |
The HRA currently exposes three ranking profiles in the decision-support step:
| Persona | Focus |
|---|---|
| Environmentally Conscious | Sustainability and renewable-energy priorities |
| Comfort-Driven | Indoor comfort and energy efficiency |
| Cost-Optimization Oriented | Financial returns and cost savings |
These profiles are part of the live UI, but the ranking workflow may still evolve as the Technical integration expands.
- Renovation simulation support is partial in the current Forecasting integration path.
- The current comparison and ranking workflow is centered on envelope packages.
- Condensing boiler and air-water heat pump scenarios can be analyzed, but they are excluded from the current ranking step.
- PV and solar thermal options are visible in the UI but are still excluded from analysis.
- Some Technical API criteria still rely on interim inputs while the broader integration is being expanded.
- Building Information: Enter location and basic building characteristics to match a reference archetype.
- Energy & Renovation: Review baseline performance, select supported renovation measures, and configure financial assumptions.
- Results: Compare scenarios, review energy and financial outputs, and optionally run persona-based ranking for supported envelope packages.
The HRA target design in D3.2 includes broader renovation measure support and deeper technical evaluation. These elements are still evolving and may change as backend capabilities mature.
Please refer to the How To Cite section on the Welcome Page.
- Andrés García Mangas (CTIC)
- Simon Pezzutto (EURAC Research) — Reviewer
- Nikolaus Diez (TU Wien) — Reviewer
- Francesca Conselvan (E-THINK) — Reviewer
For further information, please check the revisions page of this page.
The ReLIFE open source projects are licensed under the EUPL-1.2 license. Please check each repository for project-specific details.
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.