A large share of the energy is consumed in buildings but at the individual scale, the energy consumption is rarely optimized; as a consequence, energy is wasted, electricity consumption is characterized by peaks and renewable energy integration is hindered. The quantification of the impact of a better energy management is a first step towards the deployment of load management techniques. This paper addresses the estimation of the thermal load management potential in buildings at a large scale. It presents a replicable methodology consisting of three steps to address the challenges of data collection, model development and thermal load optimization. The current work aims at addressing, within a single tool, various energy vectors, building types and stakeholders expectations. Application of this methodology has been initiated on an urban case study (Geneva, Switzerland) and preliminary results are presented in the paper. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.