Energy Analysis Applications

Sustainable architecture is the practice of designing, constructing and maintaining buildings in a way that minimizes their environmental impact. One of the most important aspects of sustainable design is energy efficiency – the drive to reduce the amount of energy a building consumes during its lifespan.

Nowadays there are easy-to-use applications that deliver energy analysis throughout the design process. These applications, designed for architects, can be used from the early design phases to help them make the right decisions concerning the building’s orientation, zoning, envelope structures and materials.

Direct BIM to BEM Data Export

ARCHICAD provides relevant BIM information for energy analysis experts. Its Energy Model Review function executes the Automatic Model Analysis algorithm on the building model. This “Direct BIM to Building Energy Model (BEM)” technology eliminates the possibility of data loss or distortion that might otherwise occur during BIM data conversion or remodeling. The ARCHICAD Building Energy Model (BEM) includes thermal blocks and opaque and transparent 2nd level space boundaries, with their respective performance data such as U value, air permeability, and solar absorptance.

This data can be used for energy analysis in three different ways:

1)Energy performance simulation native to ARCHICAD

•Energy Evaluation: available in every ARCHICAD

•EcoDesigner STAR for ARCHICAD: add-on sold separately

2)Direct Data Export

•Export to PHPP: available in every ARCHICAD

•Export to VIP-Energy and iSBEM: available in EcoDesigner STAR only

3)Export via Standard Data Exchange File Formats

•gbXML

•IFC

ARCHICAD BEM Data Export to 3rd Party Software for Energy Performance Simulation

Since GRAPHISOFT’s direct BIM to BEM technology enables energy analysis tools to access the ARCHICAD Virtual Building data, feedback on the building’s energy consumption can be obtained at any time during the design process. Ongoing changes to the architectural design do not lead to any laborious reworking on the simulation side (such as manually adjusting the geometry of the building to keep up with the alterations): all architectural data is up-to-date and immediately usable as input for the energy simulation.

For more information on this topic please read: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/videos/archicad/energy-evaluation/.

Energy Evaluation in ARCHICAD

In addition to the building geometry and material property data derived from the ARCHICAD BIM by the Energy Model Review, Energy Evaluation in ARCHICAD also calculates solar irradiation using the Virtual Building. If users provide the input necessary for the energy simulation via the dedicated dialogs (e.g. Operation Profiles, Building Systems), then the VIP-Core energy simulation module integrated in ARCHICAD carries out the hourly dynamic analysis and produces the Energy Performance Evaluation report. It is not necessary to exit ARCHICAD and exchange data with external energy analysis applications for building energy performance optimization. The energy performance of the architectural design's current state is easily evaluated within ARCHICAD, and the effects of changes made on the architectural model to improve energy efficiency may be reviewed instantly.

  

Energy Evaluation can be applied at all phases of architectural design. It is quick, comprehensive, and easy to use. You can compare monthly energy balances, energy demand, fuel consumption, carbon footprint and other performance indicators to advise the design process and to make the best design choices - all within ARCHICAD.

For more information on this topic please read: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/videos/archicad/energy-evaluation/.

EcoDesigner STAR Add-On For ARCHICAD

High-end energy analysis software is necessary to produce standard-compliant documentation of building energy performance. Besides supporting the export of ARCHICAD data to 3rd party software (see Direct BIM to BEM Data Export on page 106), GRAPHISOFT also offers the EcoDesigner STAR ARCHICAD add-on, which turns the built-in Energy Evaluation function into a high-end tool for building energy analysis.

EcoDesigner STAR can be used to execute in-depth, high-accuracy calculations that produce standard-compliant energy performance rating reports similar to those of specialized 3rd party simulation software. However, since EcoDesigner STAR is integrated in ARCHICAD, it can be used earlier and more often during the architectural design process, as opposed to the conventional workflow, in which energy analysis is only run once or twice in the construction documentation phase of the design.

EcoDesigner STAR – Building Energy Performance Report Excerpts

EcoDesigner STAR is a fully BIM-integrated, certified building energy simulation program that dramatically improves the energy performance and indoor environmental quality of buildings designed with ARCHICAD, and opens new doors for fuel savings, cost savings and environmental impact reduction.

For details, see http://www.graphisoft.com/ARCHICAD/ecodesigner_star.

GRAPHISOFT Sustainable Solutions Functionality Overview

This table compares EcoDesigner STAR with the Energy Evaluation features available in every ARCHICAD by default.

Other (Non-Energy) Building Performance Simulation Applications

For large-scale and high-end building projects, building performance simulation software is frequently used for purposes other than energy analysis. These programs typically run separately from BIM authoring tools and use their own 3D building models to execute daylighting, airflow, smoke/fire, egress and acoustic simulations.

There are several ways to export ARCHICAD BIM data to these software.

Analysis programs handle building geometry data obtained from ARCHICAD differently, depending on their calculation method and available functions. Therefore, when exporting building geometry data to these softwares, users should export only the relevant parts of the ARCHICAD model.

The file format of the exported data also depends on the 3rd party programs. It is usually either IFC or gbXML, but DWG and DXF are also common. Some of these applications offer a dedicated IFC translator or ARCHICAD-specific plug-in application, which extracts the data required by their software from the ARCHICAD building model.

ARCHICAD BIM Data Export to 3rd Party Software for Building Performance Simulation (Non-Energy)

Since building performance experts typically produce 2D documentation as opposed to modifying the BIM model, the import of performance results from external applications into the ARCHICAD environment is not supported.