The URBEM (Urban Reference Buildings for Energy Modelling) project is funded by the Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR) as a Project of Significant National Interest (PRIN). With the participation of 10 Italian Universities, under the coordination of Prof. Francesco Causone of the Department  of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, it aims to create a national database of reference buildings to be used with UBEM (Urban Building Energy Modelling) tools, which are capable of evaluating energy saving measures for large building stocks through dynamic simulations involving numerous buildings at the same time.

This database will make it possible to reduce the uncertainty in the results of UBEM simulations, providing a reference tool and analysis methodology for public authorities (and other building owners), facilitating their activities of building stock management and conservation, and promoting policies and incentives.

In the current phase, researchers are working to define and characterise the available national, regional and local building and energy databases. This will be followed by a phase of data mining and data analysis, and then an implementation of the reference buildings in urban energy simulation software.