abstract
High consumption of fossil fuels in urban area leads to environmental pollution and energy shortages,
which threaten to reverse human progress. Community energy system planning makes great contributions
to reducing fossil energy consumption. This paper focused on the Community Energy Planning
(CEP) method at the Community Master Plan (CMP), Community Regulatory Plan (CRP), Community Site
Plan (CSP) and Architectural Design (AD) stages. Top-down and bottom-up models for CEP at different
stages of community construction were introduced. The present situation and development of research
on energy demand forecasting, renewable energy resource assessments and whole community energy
system optimization, which are three highly important components of bottom-up models, were
introduced. After surveying the methods and tools that have contributed to CEP, the framework of
computer tools for community energy system simulation and design was outlined. The functions
(particularly focused on the existence of the functions of energy demand prediction, renewable energy
resource assessment and whole community energy system optimization) and characteristics of these
computer tools for community energy system design (CESD) were listed and compared. One of the
current challenges is predicting community energy demand. There is still a shortage of available tools for
determining energy-related indictors at the CRP stage. A built Community Energy Consumption data
Monitoring and Statistic System (CECMSS) may help to predict a community's secondary energy
demand. Ultimately, a framework for a new community energy analysis model that determines
energy-related indicators was introduced.
&