Unveiling the Potential of Urban Building Energy with 5R3C Thermal Modeling in Energy Communities

This paper reviews the role of grey-box Resistance–Capacitance (RC) thermal models within Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) to support Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and building stock decarbonization. Given the growing need for scalable and computationally efficient forecasting tools, RC models are examined as reduced-order approaches that balance physical interpretability and simulation performance. The study analyses how architectural and operational parameters, including compactness ratio, building age, typology, window-to-wall ratio, and occupancy behavior, influence thermal resistances, capacitances, and dynamic heat demand. The findings highlight the suitability of 5R3C models for district-scale applications, renovation scenario analysis, and renewable integration, while identifying challenges related to parameter calibration, behavioral uncertainty, and large-scale validation