The effect of neighbourhood-level urban form on residential building energy use: A GIS-based model using building energy benchmarking data in Seattle

•The energy performance of a building is significantly affected by the configuration of the neighbouring urban form.•The relationships between the urban form measures and the energy use intensity of multi-family residential buildings indicated that the overall energy consumption decreases in a neighbourhood with a higher lot coverage ratio and smaller vertical variation of buildings.•None of the urban form measures were statistically significant as the size of the neighbourhood buffer reached 150 m and above. Despite numerous studies on computerised simulations for analysing the relationship between the physical characteristics of an urban environment and energy consumption in buildings, the correlation between the actual energy use and physical parameters influencing a building's energy performance has rarely been explored. Previous research has identified several physical characteristics of the urban environment as potential drivers of a building's energy demand. Using the building energy consumption data from the Seattle city government, and geographic information system (GIS) data obtained from the Washington Geospatial Data Archive, this study presents an investigation of the effect of three urban form variables—horizontal compactness, vertical density, and variation of building heights—on the residential energy consumption of multi-family housings in Seattle. The results of the spatial lag models of building energy use and its neighbourhood-level correlates confirm that the building's energy consumption is spatially dependent. In Seattle, the annual energy use of a multi-family building was reduced with an increased horizontal density and smaller variations in building height. An interpretation of the results is presented with respect to the local climate. Further research is required to examine the association between various urban form factors on a building's energy use in regions with different climatic environments.