While everyone is aware of the crucial importance of the development of new energy technologies today, especially those focused on renewable energies or the rational use of energy, the importance of their evaluation is only beginning to be fully recognized . To gauge the actual utility of these innovations is however fundamental to enable them to be really useful. However, a systematic analysis of methods for evaluating the operation after installation of the various non-conventional energy systems is still lacking. Our current practice and our ongoing contacts with the players in the field have also shown us that the way in which the evaluation of the energy efficiency of these new technologies is being carried out suffers from this lack of a synthetic tool.

The book therefore has two objectives. The first is to provide researchers and engineers with a synthesis of methods for evaluating energy systems, the result of several decades of work in this field. The book, fed on examples taken from real cases, is intended both synthetic and concrete, presenting a view

As exhaustive as possible of the domain, while constituting a tool easily exploitable by the target audience. The second objective is to break the vicious circle whereby in situ assessment is still somewhat neglected today, sometimes considered as a "thankless" work, long, seemingly expensive, hardly valorizable and poorly valued. In attempting to organize the scientific experience of more than thirty years, the author hopes to convince of the considerable usefulness of the approach, both economically and humanly.

Part 1. The Context of Case Study Feedback (CSF) Chapter 1. Energy Transition 1.1. The global energy system and its evolution 1.2. The necessary transformation of the global energy system 1.2.1. Fossil fuels: planned scarcity upstream and environmental problem downstream 1.2.2. Nuclear energy: environmental and accessibility issues 1.2.3. An overall inefficient system 1.2.4. A productive and simple-energy vision 1.2.5. Energy transition 1.3. The three concordances 1.3.1. Form concordance 1.3.2. Place concordance 1.3.3. Time concordance 1.3.4. Economic, social and environmental constraints Chapter 2. Energy Systems and Technological Systems 2.1. Transformers and concordances 2.1.1. Form converters 2.1.2. Storage 2.1.3. Transport 2.2. From the transformer to the energy system 2.3. Effectiveness of resources and effectiveness of results Chapter 3. The Innovation Process 3.1. A well-defined process 3.2. Limit of these curves in the context of energy systems 3.3. Operation and use Chapter 4. Case Study Feedback, the Basis of Learning by Using 4.1. Innovation in energy systems 4.2. Case study feedback 4.2.1. CSF classification test 4.2.2. CSF content Part 2. CSF Tools: Operation and Envisaged Uses. Chapter 5. The Human Context 5.1. Why the human aspects? 5.1.1. In vivo rather than in vitro 5.1.2. The importance of objective information in the field of innovative energy systems 5.2. Who are the actors involved and how are they involved? 5.2.1. Actors involved in the innovation process 5.2.2. Actors related to the particular energy system 5.2.3. Actors involved in the implementation of CSF 5.3. How to take into account human aspects in CSF 5.3.1. The perimeter 5.3.2. The objectives of the CSF 5.3.3. The resources 5.3.4. The team’s experience 5.3.5. The follow-up group Chapter 6. The Energy Context and the Sankey Diagram 6.1. A drawing is better than a long speech 6.2. Design, development and operation 6.2.1. The importance of precise terminology 6.2.2. Balance failure 6.2.3. To avoid having a chilling effect 6.2.4. Shape: graphic rules 6.3. Uses Chapter 7. From System to Experimental Concept 7.1. The importance and difficulties of a quantitative quality assessment 7.2. From the energy system to be evaluated to the measurement concept 7.2.1. From objectives to a breakdown into subsystems and components 7.2.2. Developing the measurement system 7.2.3. Some properties of the sensors and their use 7.2.4. Some remarks on the measurement of primary energies 7.3. Link to other phases of the evaluation Chapter 8. Data Observation and Global Indicators 8.1. Observing and feeling 8.2. Energy indicators Chapter 9. Input/Output and Signature Relationships: the Operation in Use 9.1. Convenient visualization of an expected relationship 9.2. Search for a global relationship 9.3. Signatures as simple management tools 9.4. The signature as the basis for adjustment 9.5. The signature as the basis for a standard Chapter 10. Modeling 10.1. Why model? 10.2. Analytical and systemic approaches 10.3. Modeling and approximate knowledge 10.4. Modeling in the context of approximate knowledge of CSF 10.5. The steps of the modeling and the necessary validation 10.6. Some component modeling carried out in CSF 10.6.1. Integrating dynamic aspects to check the proper functioning of a component 10.6.2. Developing a more explicit but simple model 10.7. Simulation of energy systems Chapter 11. Conducting the Evaluation 11.1. Publication 11.2. Summary of the CSF process Part 3. The Practice of CSF Chapter 12. Challenges of Innovation: Summer Overheating in an Administrative Building 12.1. Background information 12.2. Description of the building 12.3. The measurement concept and initial findings 12.4. Overheating indicators: strict application of the standard 12.4.1. Proof of need according to standards 12.4.2. Use of the standard by the design office when defining the concept 12.4.3. Comparison with the real situation 12.5. Building consensus 12.5.1. Is the indoor humidity in the offices too high? 12.5.2. Is the ventilation through the windows as predicted? 12.5.3. Is the ventilation, even in accordance with predictions and properly used, sufficient? 12.5.4. Do occupants use night cooling as intended? 12.5.5. Is the false ceiling an inconvenience? 12.6. Conclusions Chapter 13. Audits or Implementation of Knowledge: Transformation of Valère Castle to a Museum 13.1. The context of the study 13.2. The Aymon CSF 13.2.1. Measures and preliminary findings 13.2.2. System modeling 13.3. Return to Valère 13.3.1. The building 13.3.2. The building’s relationship with the weather 13.3.3. The building’s relationship with the operation of the future museum 13.3.4. The building’s relationship with the technical installations 13.3.5. The resulting indoor climate 13.4. Modeling and scenarios: proposal of the concept based on the “Aymon system” 13.4.1. Real in situ simulation of the new use 13.4.2. Virtual simulation of the new use 13.4.3. Results of scenarios and proposals 13.5. Implementation of the concept and commissioning by the Valais engineering school (now HES-SO Valais) 13.6. Conclusion Chapter 14. CSF to Evaluate and Improve the Appropriation of Innovation: the Case of Buildings 14.1. Context: from the catalogue of solutions to real practice 14.2. Increased complexity of construction and systems techniques well-highlighted by the Sankey diagram 14.3. The importance of use and human aspects that are difficult to quantify 14.4. The problem of the “performance gap”: modeling to account for the difference in performance 14.5. A surprising invariant in the functioning of the “building” system: the relevance of I/O relationships and signatures 14.5.1. Modeling the thermal demand of buildings 14.5.2. Investment for infrastructure development and reimbursement from the energy used Part 4. Towards Involved Research? Chapter 15. CSF and Learning Through Use 15.1. Expertise or contested innovation 15.2. Auditing or putting innovation into practice 15.3. Feedback: in situ evaluation of the appropriation of an innovation 15.4. Big Data and CSF 15.5. The different learning experiences 15.6. CSF and learning by use Chapter 16. CSF, Energy Transition and Involved Research 16.1. Current limitations and potential of CSF 16.1.1. The impact of CSF 16.1.2. An evolution over time 16.1.3. Supporting the trial-and-error approach 16.1.4. The exemplarity of the objects studied 16.1.5. Energy context and opportunism 16.2. Feedback and energy transition: towards involved research? References Index