Abstract
Over the years, building information modelling (BIM) has undergone a significant increase, both in terms of functions and use. This tool can almost completely manage the entire process of design, construction, and management of a building internally. However, it is not able to fully integrate the functions and especially the information needed to conduct a complex energy analysis. Indeed, even if the energy analysis has been integrated into the BIM environment, it still fails to make the most of all the potential offered by building information modelling. The main goals of this study are the analysis of the interaction between BIM and energy simulation, through a review of the main existing commercial tools (available and user-friendly), and the identification and the application of a methodology in a BIM environment by using Graphisoft’s BIM software Archicad and the plug-in for dynamic energy simulation EcoDesigner STAR. The application on a case study gave the possibility to explore the advantages and the limits of these commercial tools and, consequently, to provide some possible improvements. The results of the analysis, satisfactory from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, validated the methodology proposed in this study and highlighted some limitations of the tools used, in particular for the aspects concerning the personalization of heating systems.
Highlights
The large-scale diffusion of building information modelling (BIM) tools for architecture has led to an enormous evolution of these digital means [1]
Automatic construction of the Building Energy Model (BEM) starting from BIM: The model obtained contains in itself a lot of fundamental information for energy analysis, so a few other parameters must be integrated;
Constant updating: Any type of modification made on the BIM model is automatically reflected in the BEM and in the EcoDesigner STAR cards, without any loss of information;
Summary
The large-scale diffusion of building information modelling (BIM) tools for architecture has led to an enormous evolution of these digital means [1]. Jen-tu and Vernatha [2] proposed an application of Building Information Modelling in establishing the ‘BIM based Energy Management Support System’ (BIM-EMSS) to assist individual departments within universities in their energy management tasks. They installed sensors for occupants and other equipment such as electricity sub-meters that constantly logging consumption, and developing BIM models of all rooms within individual departments’ facilities, data warehouse, building energy management system that provides energy managers with various energy management functions, and energy simulation tools (such as eQuest). To optimize the design in terms of energy efficiency, it could be useful that the energy simulation phase be carried out in meantime with the development of the project [6]
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