Future - Analysis Techniques

As someone who has been extremely fascinated with green structures since high school, I wanted to research how current and future analysis techniques would be beneficial to improving green buildings.  In order for a new construction building to earn LEED certification, the building's energy use must be monitored after occupancy and documentation must be submitted to prove that the building is performing as designed.  These expected performance values are based on baseline calculations.  This week I investigated how current technology can analyze conventional and proposed structures to determine more accurate values and where the technology still needs to be improved.

According to Kanal and Flores, there are currently six commercial software programs in use.  Three are best for architects (EcoDesigner, Ecotect, and Green Building Studio) while the others (eQuest, Energy Plus, and IES) are recommended for engineers as they require extensive training.  While architects typically utilize the software for determining building dimensions (massing) and facing direction (to optimize passive lighting), engineers use the software to evaluate energy  use and building systems.

Although Kanal and Flores state that these software programs are an effective tool for basic energy calculations, there are two major drawbacks of these programs.  The first drawback is file conversion.  Currently, the file formats between these analysis programs and other design programs are not compatible.  Kanal and Flores cite a BIM specialist who points out that it is easier for him to start from scratch than to fix the imported file.  Although some improvements have been made in this area – AutoDesk purchased two of the programs so it could incorporate it into its programs – improvement is still needed to better aid engineers.  According to Stadel et. al., the "challenges of combining software tools include data aggregation, error transfer, and propagation when moving data from one model to another".  In this paper, BIM and SimaPro were utilized to determine the carbon footprint a model office building using LCA.  According to Stadel et. al., while SimaPro provides a more comprehensive range of environmental impacts, it is also time consuming; however, while BIM is quicker, it provides inconsistent results.  Improvement and integration of these energy calculation software tools with current design programs (e.g. AutoCad, BIM) will decrease the complexity of the program and provide more accurate results.

Another major drawback for improvement of these programs is the late incorporation of engineers in the design process.  Kanal and Flores state that the manhours it requires for an engineer to be at the same point in the design process as the architect (e.g. 30% design completion) exceeds the architect's manhours.  Parallel design of the engineer and architect can slow the design process down, but will result in a more incorporated systems design and less conflicts down the road (e.g. change orders, RFIs).  If the AEC community moved from the traditional design-bid-build process to design-build, analysis of green and traditional structures will vastly improve.  Having building systems that work together and respond to each other's changes will provide a more efficient total-building system and, therefore, will lead to better analysis of the effectiveness of green buildings.  As Xiang Li’s blog points out, utilizing sensors in a building can increase the sustainability of the building.  Energy consumption can be saved by utilizing sensors that detect light levels so indoor lighting is only turned on when the room gets too dark and air conditioning can be adjusted based on room temperature.

Kanal, Vijay, and Kelly Flores. "Greener Buildings Through Energy Analysis Tools." Green Buildings Through Energy Analysis Tools. AECbytes: Building the Future, 2 Dec. 2010.

      <http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2010/EnergyAnalysisTools.html>.

Stadel, A., Eboli, J., Ryberg, A., Mitchell, J., and Spatari, S. (2011). ”Intelligent Sustainable Design: Integration of Carbon Accounting and Building Information Modeling.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 137, SPECIAL ISSUE: Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering Education, 51–54.