In their effort to lead a change towards greater energy efficiency and a
reduction in CO2 emissions many cities are now in the process of developing
low carbon action plans. The implementation of such plans typically takes
place at the level of district and neighborhoods. While many tools exist to
support the design of energy efficient buildings and city-wide energy
infrastructure there is a clear need for tools capable of providing support
in developing integrated and holistic energy strategies at the neighborhood
scale that also consider the local topology and the specific financial and
legal conditions. To fulfill this need is the objective of the ECOPLAN
decision support tool. ECOPLAN evaluates the impact of different energy
efficiency measure sets on a given neighborhood and finds optimized
scenarios in terms of environment impact (carbon footprint, etc.) and
financial impact (investment costs, etc.), considering three categories: 

-	buildings energy efficiency (HVAC, building structure, controls,
lighting,…), 
-	energy production (building integrated energy production (e.g. PV,
solar thermal,….) or at neighborhood scale (CHP or heat pumps connected to a
micro grid at neighborhood scale), and 
-	energy networks (e.g. local energy network (low voltage, thermal
micro-grid) and link to city-wide or district energy distribution network
(district heating and cooling networks, mid-voltage distribution networks). 

The performed calculations and impact evaluation take into account the local
typology (position of buildings, energy networks) and the specific financial
and legal conditions (building code, investment grants,...) of the
neighborhood. The measures and the optimization process are assessed on the
basis of indicators: energy efficiency, CO2-emissions, ecological footprint
and financial issues. The calculation engine optimizes the different
measures according to the indicators and takes the interrelation between
them into account.
The potential users of the tool are large real estate owners and local
authorities in the case of thermal refurbishment of buildings or
establishing new energy efficient neighborhoods. Another example of
potential users are energy companies extending their district energy
infrastructure and need to fine-tune or assert that their actions are
aligned with other ongoing carbon reduction measures at the level of the
neighborhood. Architects, engineers and constructors involved in developing
energy concepts for industrial parks and building complexes are also
potential users of this tool, given the important potential for deploying
on-site energy supply sources and local energy storage. 

ECOPLAN can be used to develop neighborhood energy strategies, review
existing ones or ensure the alignment of individual initiatives with the
neighborhood overall energy strategy. The tool breaks down the energy
strategy of the city to a specific neighborhood with regard on their local
peculiarities and characteristics to develop a tailor-made coordinated
package of measures.