AI potential for renovation measures identification

Abstract

Building renovation processes always require guidance from different experts or professionals who successfully conduct all the steps starting from the previous studies, project definition, intervention, commissioning, and maintenance. The quality of the results often depended on the professionals’ expertise when facing these challenges. This work evaluates whether the new open-access AI can conduct building energy renovation diagnosis effectively. Traditionally the use of AI was rather limited to some experts and activities. However, in November 2022 one of the first Open-source AI, ChatGPT, became public and is offering a chance to boost human capacities worldwide and for free. This mainstream AI potential raised concerns about human job replacement risk and lack of control. In a few months, the social perception of AI as a far-future issue turned upside-down and made it a very present fact. When applied to building energy renovation, AI can assist professionals, or even replace them, to identify the best renovation measures for achieving deep renovation. This study tested how responds this AI when asked about the best energy renovation measures in a certain case. To understand if AI can replace renovation experts’ diagnoses, the quality of the response is evaluated by experts and according to recent literature solutions. First, the AI is asked without any further preparation. Later, some additional data input is given to the AI to enlarge its preparation. Finally, some secondary questions are raised to enrich the analysis to evaluate the maximum potential of ChatGPT outcome. The study results prove that open-access AI can provide good responses, but can be incomplete without the proper specialized preparation and data input. In general, the AI findings can be trusted but their quality is limited. AI can help and provide a good start to any user and create comprehensive lists of feasible possibilities.