An Automated BIM Model to Conceptually Design, Analyze, Simulate, and Assess Sustainable Building Projects

Abstract

Quantifying the environmental impacts and simulating the energy consumption of building’s components at the conceptual design stage are very helpful for designers needing to make decisions related to the selection of the best design alternative that would lead to a more energy efficient building. Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers designers the ability to assess different design alternatives at the conceptual stage of the project so that energy and life cycle assessment (LCA) strategies and systems are attained. This paper proposes an automated model that links BIM, LCA, energy analysis, and lighting simulation tools with green building certification systems. The implementation is within developing plug-ins on BIM tool capable of measuring the environmental impacts (EI) and embodied energy of building components. Using this method, designers will be provided with a new way to visualize and to identify the potential gain or loss of energy for the building as a whole and for each of its associated components. Furthermore, designers will be able to detect and evaluate the sustainability of the proposed buildings based on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. An actual building project will be used to illustrate the workability of the proposed methodology.

Assessing Environmental Impact Indicators in Road Construction Projects in Developing Countries

“…The overall primary energy is computed using Equation (15) [29]: TPE = PE manu + PE tra − off + PE cons + PE oper + PE dec + PE rec (15) where TPE refers to the total primary energy. PE manu, PE tra-off, PE cons, PE tra-on, PE oper, PE dec, and PE rec refer to primary energy consumed in manufacturing stage, transportation off-site stage, construction stage, transportation on-site stage, operation and maintenance stage, deconstruction stage, and recycling and reuse stage, respectively.…”

“…SA refers to the total surface area of the construction project. The annual electricity consumption is assumed to be 200 KW/m 2 [29]. The annual natural gas consumption is assumed to be 28 m 3 /m 2 (this amount was computed based on data on the amount of natural gas production in Egypt in 2013, the percentage of natural gas consumed in electricity generation in Egypt, and the total surface area of paved and unpaved roads) [30].…”

BIM Software Plug-ins: An Alternative to Optimize Design Processes from the Perspective of Performance and Sustainability

“…In such environment, plug-ins can increase the viability of assessing different technological solutions at the project's initial stages, allowing designers to focus on achieving less negative impacts on building life cycle and energy efficient design [5]. Through plug-ins created in the Revit API (application programming interface), framework to assess requirements for environmental certifications such as LEED can be integrated into design processes [12], allowing designers to insert contextual information on the building model in order to achieve certain certification credits, moreover, the document submission can be managed according to the designer's goals.…”

“…From another perspective, the growing interest in sustainable design, given by environmental certifications such as LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) and BREEAM (building research establishment environmental assessment method), has become a way of guiding planning processes and technological decision making, altering design processes while taking into account environmental impacts and influences of the constructive system choices along the building life cycle [5].…”

A case study based approach to the integration of sustainable design analysis, performance and building information modelling

“…As the design progressed the building's thermal zones were defined and enclosures formed (walls layout, fenestration, roofs, floors and internal partitions). The model was then used for a final building shading and sun studies to determine sun path and solar stress diagrams, with room level calculations such as average daylight and artificial light factors, including visibility studies and solar exposure analysis [11] (see Fig. 6).…”