Framework for developing a building material property database using web crawling to improve the applicability of energy simulation tools

As the need to evaluate the energy performance of buildings has increased, the use of energy analysis tools has become more widespread and their results are now a key factor in building energy assessments. The current emphasis on the interpretation of building energy performance means that the enhancement of energy analysis tools and their ease of use is worthy of study. Based on analyses of building energy and the physical properties of materials, material properties essential to the analysis of building energy performance were selected. These properties were automatically extracted and stored using an algorithm to collect information from the internet. Based on the designed algorithms, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey and qualitative analysis to measure their convenience. From the analysis, the satisfaction level was found to exceed an average of 80%, resulting in a high level of satisfaction for practitioners using the energy analysis tool. It was also shown that the perceived convenience could be improved by reducing the duration of the search by at least 60% and by applying physical property information to the energy analysis application.