BIM For Sustainability Analyses
BIM For Sustainability Analyses
BIM For Sustainability Analyses
Research
To cite this article: Salman Azhar Ph.D & Justin Brown MBC (2009) BIM for Sustainability
Analyses, International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 5:4, 276-292, DOI:
10.1080/15578770903355657
Buildings consume close to 40% of total energy used in the United States and
account for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. With the rising cost of energy
and growing environmental concerns, the demand for sustainable buildings with
minimal environmental impact is increasing. The most effective decisions related
to the sustainable design of a building can be made in the early design and precon-
struction stages. In this context, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can aid in
performing complex building performance analyses to ensure an optimized sustain-
able building design. This research project investigated the viability of BIM-based
sustainability analyses. The objectives were: 1) determination of current state and
benefits of BIM-based sustainability analyses; 2) evaluation of various building
performance analyses softwares; and 3) development of a conceptual framework
to illustrate the use of BIM for sustainability analyses throughout the project
life-cycle. Necessary data were collected via a questionnaire survey, a case study
and semi-structured interviews. It is expected that the research findings would
be useful for architecture and construction organizations interested in using
BIM technology for sustainable design.
Introduction
In the United States, commercial and residential buildings consume close to 40% of
total energy, 70% of electricity, 40% of raw materials, and 12% of fresh water supplies,
and account for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions (Autodesk, 2008). The rising cost of
energy and growing environmental concerns have pushed the demand for sustainable
buildings with minimal environmental impact through the use of environmental
sensitive design and construction practices (Autodesk, 2005). Organizations such as
the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) are increasingly requiring that archi-
tects, planners, and constructors meet these energy codes in the delivery of federally
owned buildings. States such as Florida are following suit, requiring all State owned
buildings to meet standardized energy requirements (Autodesk, 2008). This type of
‘‘green legislation,’’ together with the increase in green building construction, is
forcing architects, planners, and builders to consider the environmental impact of
the buildings they design and construct (Schueter & Thessling, 2008).
The most effective decisions related to the sustainable design of a building can be
made in the early design and preconstruction stages. Traditional CAD planning
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BIM for Sustainability Analyses 277
. Building orientation (to select the best building orientation that results in
minimum energy costs)
. Building massing (to analyze building form and optimize the building envelope)
. Daylighting analysis
. Water harvesting (to reduce water needs in a building)
. Energy modeling (to reduce energy needs and analyze renewable energy options
such as solar energy)
. Sustainable materials (to reduce material needs and to use recycled materials)
The combination of sustainable design strategies and BIM technology has the
potential to change the traditional design practices and to produce a high-
performance facility design. One such effort in the Columbia campus of the University
of South Carolina resulted in approximately $900,000 savings over the next 10 years
at current energy costs (Gleeson, 2008).
The terms sustainability analyses or building performance analyses, as used in this
paper, refers to various assessments and evaluations conducted to determine a build-
ing’s environmental performance. These analyses include contextual analyses, such
as daylighting, building massing, and site orientation, as well as internal analyses
such as optimization of a building’s HVAC system. Figure 1 describes the typical
flow of information taken into account when conducting performance analyses using
a building information model. The building information model contains basic
information such as building geometry, building materiality, building systems, and
internal loads. Based on this information, as well as additional information that is
entered into the performance analyses software, environmental evaluation of a build-
ing can be performed. Such an evaluation could greatly help designers to optimize
the environmental performance of the building.
For projects pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED1) certification, many LEED1 credits require that drawings be submitted
to support the qualification for credit. Although most of these drawings can be
prepared using conventional CAD software, BIM software produces these drawings
more efficiently as part of the building information model and have the added advan-
tage of parametric change technology, which coordinates changes and maintains con-
sistency at all times. Thus user does not have to intervene to update drawings or links.
BIM for Sustainability Analyses 279
Similarly, such models carry a wealth of information for many other aspects of
sustainable design and=or LEED1 certification process. For instance, schedules of
building components can be obtained directly from the model to determine
percentages of material reuse, recycling, or salvage. According to Autodesk (2005),
up to 20 points for LEED1 certification can be facilitated using BIM.
Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire was designed based on the skip-logic method, in which the selec-
tion of the next question is based on the answer of the previous question. The
skip-logic method prevents respondents from answering questions which they are
not qualified to answer. The questionnaire was distributed via a web-based service
ZoomerangTM (http://www.zoomerang.com). It was launched on January 9, 2009.
Reminders were sent on January 21 and February 10, 2009 to ensure maximum
participation. The survey was closed on February 28, 2009. Till the survey closing
date, 163 individuals visited the survey website; and 91 complete and 15 partial responses
were received. It was decided by the research team to exclude partial responses to
ensure maximum consistency in the reported results. The survey response rate is 56%
which is good enough to draw meaningful conclusions.
280 S. Azhar and J. Brown
Among the 91 survey respondents, the majority worked for either architecture
(34%) or construction companies (36%). It was followed by engineering (16%) and
design=build firms (10%). The remaining respondents (4%) worked for government
organizations and BIM consultants.
The questionnaire had two skip-logic questions. The first skip-logic question
identified the survey respondents currently using BIM. Of the 91 respondents, 72
(79%) were using BIM technology in their projects; while 19 respondents (21%) were
non-BIM users. No further questions were asked from the later group and the rest of
the respondents were directed to the second skip-logic question which identified the
respondents currently using BIM-based sustainability analyses in their projects. Of
these 72 respondents, 30 (42%) were employing BIM-based sustainability analyses;
while 42 (58%) were not using BIM for this purpose. The rest of the questions were
asked to the 30 respondents who were using BIM-based sustainability analyses and
the important results are discussed in the following section.
Important Results
In the first question, survey respondents were asked to select the types of building
performance analyses (or sustainability analyses) they typically use in their projects.
The results are shown in Figure 2. The most common analyses were found to be
energy analysis, daylighting=solar analysis, building orientation analysis, massing
analysis and site analysis. Fifteen (50%) respondents also indicated that they prepare
LEED1 documentation as part of the building performance analyses. Two respon-
dents selected the other option and their responses were structural and mechanical
systems analyses.
Next question explored about the project stage(s) in which sustainability analyses
are typically performed. Twenty respondents (67%) indicated that they are using
BIM-based sustainability methods at the design=preconstruction stage. Nineteen
respondents (63%) answered that they are employing these methods at the planning=
pre-design stage. Nine (30%) answered construction stage and 3(10%) answered
post-construction stage. Two respondents (7%) selected the other option and their
responses were GIS Mapping and Building Automation. These results are illustrated
in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Types of BIM-based performance analyses typically used in the respondents’ firms.
BIM for Sustainability Analyses 281
significant monetary losses as shown in Figure 5. Based on the results of these two
questions, it can be inferred that most of the firms are experiencing some-to-signifi-
cant time and cost savings through BIM-based sustainability analyses as compared
with the traditional methods.
Respondents were asked to select the building performance analyses software(s)
being used by their firms. Fifteen respondents (50%) selected Autodesk1 Green Build-
ing Studio (GBS)TM. Eleven respondents (37%) chose Integrated Environmental
Solutions1, Virtual Environment (VE)TM. An equal amount, 11 (37%), stated that
they are using Autodesk1 EcotectTM. Seven respondents (23%) selected other soft-
ware, which were HevacompTM, Energy PlusTM, DelightTM, RadianceTM, HEEDTM,
HomerTM, Virtual DOETM, Bentley HEVACOMPM, Bentley TASTM, and Climate
ConsultantTM. These results are illustrated in Figure 6 which clearly indicates that
the three most popular building performance analyses softwares are Green Building
StudioTM, Virtual EnvironmentTM, and EcotectTM. Hence, in the second part of this
research project, these three softwares were evaluated for their functionality and
performance for BIM-based sustainability analyses.
At the end, respondents were asked to rate the level of satisfaction realized
through BIM-based sustainability analyses as compared to the traditional methods
of sustainability analyses. The results are shown in Figure 7. Ten respondents
(37%) were highly satisfied, while 12 respondents (44%) achieved some satisfaction.
Seven respondents (23%) were neutral, while one respondent (4%) was found to be
dissatisfied. As a whole, it can be concluded that most of the respondents were satis-
fied up to a certain degree.
Major Findings
The major findings of the questionnaire survey are as follows:
. The majority of practitioners who are employing BIM-based sustainability
analyses are primarily architects and contractors.
. Practitioners typically use BIM-based sustainability analyses at the planning and
design stages.
. The analyses types with the most prevalent use are energy analysis, daylighting=
solar analysis, building orientation analysis, massing analysis and site analysis.
. Practitioners implementing BIM-based sustainability analyses are realizing
some-to-significant time and cost savings compared with the traditional methods.
. The software types which seem to have the most prevalent use, at the time of this
research, were Autodesk EcotectTM, Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS)TM,
and Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES)1, Virtual Environment (VE)TM.
. Practitioners are achieving some-to-high degree of satisfaction in regard to results
when compared with the traditional sustainability analyses.
Figure 8. Use of BIM for Options Analysis and Sun Studies in the Emory Psychology
Building (Courtesy of: HOK1 and Holder Construction Company, Atlanta, GA).
BIM for Sustainability Analyses 285
need for time consuming plan take-offs. This removes a significant cost barrier to
designing resource efficient buildings and specifying associated equipment. It enables
building design teams to truly collaborate and realize the potential benefits of BIM
technology (Stephen, 2009).
The following paragraphs briefly discuss the salient features of each software
while Table 1 depicts their pros and cons. This information is collected by reading
the software manuals and conducting semi-structured interviews with professionals
from HOK1 and HCC1.
EcotectTM
EcotectTM, owned by Autodesk1, Inc., is ‘‘a complete building design and environ-
mental analyses tool that covers the full range of simulation and analyses functions
required to truly understand how a building design will operate and perform’’
(Autodesk, 2008). The primary program analyses capabilities include energy
analysis, thermal analysis, and lighting=shading analysis. The energy and thermal
analysis features take into account factors such as resource management, heating
and cooling loads, and ventilation and airflow. The lighting=shading analysis tools
allow for solar analysis, right-to-light analysis, daylighting assessment, shading
design, and lighting design. EcotectTM also allows for other facility assessments such
as acoustic analysis. Figure 10 depicts a sample screen shot of the performance
analysis of Emory Psychology Building using EcotectTM.
286 S. Azhar and J. Brown
Table 1. Pros and cons of building performance analyses softwares used for
evaluation
Virtual EnvironmentTM
Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES)1, Virtual Environment (VE)TM software
is a suite of integrated building performance analyses tools. These tools provide
analyses for issues including solar, lighting, energy, costs, egress, and many others.
The energy=thermal functions include energy usage, carbon emissions, thermal
analysis, heating=cooling load evaluation, and ventilation=airflow evaluation. The
lighting=shading functions include solar analysis, daylighting assessment, and
LEED1 Daylight Credit 8.1 capabilities. The value=cost analysis functions include
life-cycle assessment and lifecycle cost. Figure 12 illustrates a screenshot of daylight-
ing analysis using IES1 Virtual EnvironmentTM.
288 S. Azhar and J. Brown
Figure 11. Green Building StudioTM interface displaying energy end-use information from
Emory Psychology Building study (Courtesy: HCC, Atlanta).
The pros and cons of each software are shown in the following table. These pros
and cons were identified through study of software manuals and semi-structured
interviews with professionals from HOK and HCC.
Figure 12. Daylighting analysis using IES1 Virtual EnvironmentTM (Courtesy: HCC, Atlanta).
BIM for Sustainability Analyses 289
Figure 13 shows this evaluation matrix with individual and grand total weighted
score for each software. In terms of overall rating and versatility, IES1 Virtual
EnvironmentTM was considered as the best software for BIM-based sustainability
analyses. EcotectTM, although stronger than Green Building StudioTM in numerous
categories, including Thermal, Solar, and Lighting and Daylighting, is apparently
the least versatile of the three. This is due to its lack of Value and Cost and LEED1
rating capabilities, both heavily weighted items. Green Building StudiosTM,
by Autodesk1, received the lowest overall score. However, it appears to be a very
versatile program, lacking only in Acoustic capabilities.
It is important to note that the results produced from these three softwares have
not been directly validated against DOE Energy PlusTM software (a traditional
building performance analyses software). However, one of these software, GBSTM,
is based on the DOE-2 engine. The comprehensive GBSTM error check report helped
reduce the number of errors while creating a useable gbXML file. Therefore, the
authors are confident that the results are ‘in the ballpark’. Meanwhile, though
EcotectTM and IES-VETM are not based on the DOE-2 engine, they provide inputs
that allow users to define materials, room types, system types, etc., for more detailed
study within the programs.
Concluding Remarks
This exploratory study indicates that BIM can facilitate the very complex process of
sustainable design as well as automate the drudgery of activities like material take-
offs, cost estimation and construction schedules, while capturing and coordinating
information into a single integrated model. It is found that the majority of practi-
tioners who are implementing BIM-based sustainability analyses are primarily archi-
tects and contractors. The analyses types with the most prevalent use are energy
analysis, daylighting=solar analysis, building orientation analysis, massing analysis
and site analysis. Most of these practitioners realized some-to-significant time and
costs savings as compared to the traditional methods. The software types which seem
to have the most prevalent use are Autodesk EcotectTM, Autodesk Green Building
Studio (GBS)TM, and Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES)1, Virtual Environ-
ment (VE)TM. Based on the evaluation of these softwares, Virtual EnvironmentTM
appears to be both the most versatile and powerful software in terms of sustainabil-
ity analyses capabilities. EcotectTM, although stronger than Green Building
StudioTM in numerous categories is apparently the least versatile of the three. Green
Building StudioTM received the lowest overall score. However, it appears to be more
versatile program than EcotectTM. The conceptual framework presented in this
paper could be used as a guide to identify the types of sustainability analyses which
can be performed at different phases of the project life-cycle.
Disclaimer
The opinions and recommendations expressed in this paper are the authors’ personal
opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of any organization.
This paper does not endorse any software in any capacity.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Mr. Paul Hedgepath and Mr. Michael Hasamoh of Holder Con-
struction Company, Atlanta, and Mr. Chirag Mistry of HOK, Atlanta for providing
necessary data and feedback. The study is supported by the research grant from the
Alabama State Licensing Board for General Contractors Construction Industry
Fund.
References
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292 S. Azhar and J. Brown