Percentage-based thermal zoning approach for enhanced stock-level building energy performance modelling

• Propose a percentage-based thermal zoning method for non-domestic building stocks. • Enhance stock-level energy performance modelling by activity-based zoning. • Show better interpretability over the core-perimeter zoning approach. • Demonstrate large energy demand variations with different zoning configurations. • Support energy management and policy with detailed stock-level zoning insights. For stock-level building energy modelling, commonly used single-zone-per-floor or core-perimeter thermal zoning methods may fail to capture the complex energy dynamics of diverse building interiors, especially for non-domestic buildings, leading to inaccurate energy consumption evaluations. To address the gap, this research introduces a novel percentage-based thermal zoning method, dissecting the building physics models based on internal activity percentages for relatively accurate simulations. Using hotel building stock in England and Wales as the case, the proposed approach demonstrates significant improvements over core-perimeter methods by better capturing functional segmentation. Key findings indicate that different zoning configurations drastically impact energy demand estimates, with heating demands increasing by up to 8.7%, cooling demands surging by up to 49 times, and electrical demands rising by up to 51% compared to unsegmented models. This approach features the importance of detailed thermal zone allocation for accurate building energy performance assessment, supporting urban energy management and sustainable planning.