Employing local and global sensitivity analysis techniques to guide user interface development of energy certification and compliance software tools

This paper reports on how sensitivity analysis techniques, applied to the inputs of calculation engines for energy certification and regulation compliance purposes, can provide guidance for simplifying their user interfaces. Two different techniques were employed: the Morris Method, used to screen the input factors, and Monte Carlo Analysis, used to assess the effects of approximations on groups of parameters. It is shown that this analysis approach can lead to useful reductions in user effort without significant loss of accuracy.