IES Blog

This year, USGBC and Regenerative Ventures hosted the 1st Annual GreenTech@Greenbuild event. In an effort to increase awareness and accelerate the mainstreaming of emerging disruptive technologies in the cleantech industry, 30 companies were selected to present their solutions for the building industry.

David Gottfried, CEO of Regenerative Ventures, kicked off the event with a recap on the green building industry – where it’s been and where it stands today.  He talked about the different phases the industry has gone through – from defining green building (what is it?) to developing/defining LEED to green building education, creating a profession to moving toward net zero buildings. The progression incorporates technology. How do these materials and technologies come together to provide these new buildings?  His introduction really showed the importance the companies are to developing the profession.

Chris Pyke, VP of Research for USGBC, talked about the business that USGBC is in – experts in market transformation, with tech innovation and on the ground practice being the two important elements.  And again, on the ground practice = projects. And these projects are taking up the technologies represented at the event at an increasing rate.

The takeaway? The industry is transforming the built environment across the globe using these technologies.

Each company had 5 minutes to present their case. Our founder Don McLean spoke about the sustainability hub and how this is contributing to the overall transformation of the market. Don talked about how rewarding it is to help customers realize the benefits of sustainable design, and the efforts we all must take in order to drive sustainable design. (You’ll likely hear Don and the rest of us at IES talking about this in 2012. A lot. So get ready!)

I overheard this yesterday, and thought it was a good way to sum up the event. “This is the future…all the companies here represent the future of green building.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

No Comments

The theme of Greenbuild 2011 is ‘What’s Next?’ It couldn’t be more timely for our company.

What’s next for IES? Glad you asked. Our Founder and Managing Director Don McLean was talking at the booth all day yesterday about our vision – a better vision where IES can impact not only the architectural market, but a range of markets – from VCs to manufacturing, etc. This is certainly an exciting time for us.

As for the show itself, this is the first time USGBC has hosted Greenbuild outside the U.S.  People here seem to think this represents a big move for the USGBC in terms of working with other countries toward a bigger green movement.  And the one thing that everyone here is saying is “Wow, Toronto’s amazing!” The architecture here is pretty cool, a mix of modern and metropolitan. A lot of glass buildings – and in a city that gets such cold winters, energy performance is definitely a relevant topic and good market for Greenbuild.

The halls are split this year – and very far from one another! (My feet can vouch for that!) The North hall has been much busier than the South hall, but the energy in both halls has been high. The show is packed, and that’s exciting to see!

Traffic at the booth has been very busy. We’ve been doing trainings which have attracted some nice crowds. Nathan did a presentation with Peter Doo of Doo Consulting and Ron Moore from Perkowitz-Ruth Architects, where they talked about the Brickstainable Competition and talked about the winning design. (We’re so happy to be involved with Brickstainable – what a fun competition!) The winning design had a zero net energy goal, which is fantastic to see!

So far, so good here in Toronto! For another perspective, take a look at Daily Commercial News and Construction Record’s first-hand account of the show – ‘U.S. Canadian green building councils kick off Greenbuild conference in Toronto.’

I’m headed to the booth (2325N), so stop by and say hi today! And follow us on Twitter for live updates throughout the day.

No Comments

Tags:Architects, brickstainable, competition, design, Greenbuild, USGBC

This year’s Greenbuild theme seems particularly appropriate to us. Since our formation in 1994, IES has always been involved in the ‘What’s NEXT’. Back then, we took academic performance analysis thinking and technology, and created the first commercially viable suite of performance analysis software. Our expert consultants also worked closely with early adopters on its implementation and incorporation into the design process; helping to establish the backbone of today’s simulation market.

It was our involvement in these seminal projects which really set the stage for us, projects such as; Heathrow Terminal 5 right from the earliest concept stages, and BA “Waterside” Headquarters near London Heathrow. Since then IES has attained a unique position in the global marketplace delivering world-leading analysis expertise to help produce sustainable buildings.

For almost two decades, we have been pushing the ethos of integrated design and incorporation of performance analysis right from the earliest new-build and retrofit stages as the route to achieving truly sustainable, low-energy structures.

Now as the sustainability market is starting to catch up with this thinking, I’m seeing organisations beginning to understand the value and benefits of the IES approach. Consequently, we find our role changing. Increasingly organisations are coming to IES to help overcome technical or commercial barriers in getting their sustainability products and services to the market.

Consequently, we find ourselves today still working at the leading edge of building science, investigating how analysis plays a vital role in cutting through greenwash to deliver measurable sustainability. Whether that is designing or analysing a product range, regulatory system, building or entire communities/eco-cities.

IES has been approached in this capacity by Governments, ESCO’s, Venture Capitalists, software companies, product manufactures (both building and clean energy), regulation setters, voluntary rating system developers, and those managing large property portfolios.

So what’s NEXT? I certainly see this as the start of a new age in the role of analysis in a low-energy, zero-carbon built environment, as well as in the role of our company. At Greenbuild this year I’m spending a great deal of time discussing these developments and how I think analysis will develop and change the future face of sustainable cities and buildings.

Part of this is presenting at the GreenTech@Greenbuild event this Thursday 6th October. This is an exciting new event organised by the USGBC and Regenerative Networks which is designed to increase awareness and adoption of emerging disruptive technologies that provide exceptional solutions for the building industry.

Featured firms were selected for the significant advances they contribute to green building, so needless to say I was excited by the invitation. Watch this space for a recording of my presentation.

Or come along to our booth #2325N and say hello. I’m more than happy to discuss our innovation and expertise in creating cutting-edge building performance analysis tools, as well as the supply of related consulting and specialist services.

Plus, you can catch up with executives from Halcrow, Doo Consulting, Perkowitz + Ruth Architects, Building Momentum Group and Ambient Energy. Who will share first-hand insight on analysis and integrated design:
Wednesday, October 5
1:15 p.m. – “Analyzing Double Skin Façades for Different Global Climate Regions” (Halcrow)
2:15 p.m. – “Early Conceptual Analysis of the Brickstainable Winning Design” (Doo Consulting, Perkowitz + Ruth Architects)

Thursday, October 6
1.00 p.m. – “LEED Energy & HVAC Modeling of Roosevelt University Vertical Campus” (Building Momentum Group)
1.45 p.m. – “Optimizing an Atrium – Daylight and Mixed Mode Ventilation on Colorado State University Engineering II Building” (Ambient Energy)

Read more about our activities at the show here.

No Comments

Tags:Architects, design, Engineers, Environment, event, Greenbuild, IES, LEED, Modeling, Sustainability, sustainable, USGBC

If I was a betting woman…

I’d bet on clean energy.

Las Vegas hosted the National Clean Energy Summit 4.0 last month, and none other than Vice President Joe Biden himself was there to pledge allegiance to green cars, photovoltaics and wind turbines. He seemed sincerely passionate about the need for a renewable energy revolution. The event was held at the LEED Gold-certified Aria CityCenter, which looks like any other casino resort, but is far from it. What you can’t see is the waste heat co-generation facility, the water conservation efforts, the fresh air circulation or the electric vehicle charging station. Yes, at a casino. In Las Vegas. CityCenter’s commitment to the environment remarkably demonstrates that a community can be both beautiful and sustainable.

“Imagine if the U.S. was the first country able to make solar power that is cheaper than coal. Imagine lithium-ion batteries made here that are capable of carrying an electric car 300 miles or more. Imagine being able to capture waste power from factories and vehicles and convert it to electricity. I think we’re going to see stunning breakthroughs.”
-Joe Biden

These innovations will help the U.S. by spending less on imported oil from other nations, focusing our efforts to continue pushing the envelope when it comes to clean technologies.

There was also a panel presentation. Newly elected Nevada governor Brian Sandoval said that the state has made a commitment to use 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. If other states would piggy back off Nevada’s commitment, we would be on our way to a more sustainable America. (And well before the Architecture 2030 deadline, too!)

No Comments

Tags:Environment, event, Las Vegas, LEED, Renewables, Sustainability

Now that Green Building Week has drawn to a close I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on the event we held last Monday – Environmental Modelling for a Low Carbon Scotland.  Our ‘thought trees’ certainly got the discussion started (I’ll go into the feedback received later on) and the after seminar question & answer session was fierce.  But what was clear, was the huge interest in better understanding how computer modelling (or building performance simulation) can deliver more sustainable buildings, and even cities.

We started the evening with a kind introduction from Lori McElroy Sust. Programme Director for Architecture+Design Scotland, followed by a short presentation from Dr Don McLean Founder and MD of IES.  Covering the current state of play in the use of simulation for low-carbon design, Don started by celebrating the world leading status of the UK – “From recent trips to the US I’d say they are at least 5-10 years behind us in terms of thinking and they certainly turn to those companies with a UK presence for experience.”  Then looking to the future he explored some of the research areas IES is currently involved.

David McNeill, Technical Director of Buro Happold gave the main presentation of the evening.  Kick started with a look at how Victorian design techniques used many passive elements such as central circular openings high up to vent heat and introduce daylight.  He then took us an a whistle stop tour around the Riverside Museum, the Burns Museum, Queens University Belfast and Saudi Arabia, looking at how different areas of simulation were used on each project to prove or disprove concepts and stretch design boundaries.

Quote of the night from him “Sometimes you do a model and it proves things don’t work but better to do it then than find out when you build it in real life.”

A lively question and answer session followed the presentations which we eventually had to wind down in order to give us some time to enjoy the wine and canapés.  The interest in where the future of performance analysis could take us was exciting; with concepts around analysis for eco-cities being discussed through to how to effectively bring design and operational modelling closer together and integrate this with FM process and building controls.

The prize for controversial question of the evening goes to Colin Donald of the Glasgow Herald.   Referring to the Riverside Museum he asked; “So did Zaha Hadid have any kind of idea the impact a 30m high glass wall would have?”  The answer?  In essence, shortening a long response down, the clear vision and understanding of the curators regarding the internal conditions required and computer modelling allowed the design vision to be effectively created to perform well.

You can watch a video of the seminars here and review some of the tweets from the evening using the event hashtag #lowCO2scot11.

So that just leaves us the ‘Thought Trees’ which were dotted around the venue asking key questions about sustainability in Scotland.  A big thanks to Urban Realm which supplied one of the questions.  A selection of the responses received are below.  What are your thoughts?  Please add your comments below and keep the discussion going.

What’s the biggest sustainably challenge you’re facing?
-    The gap between design and operational targets and modelling.  Although IES can do operational modelling, Building Standards still claim that they specify all assets, whereas they only specify elements of the assets - the specification gap arises.  The emphasis of all those talking about projects they have done should be to discuss the actual energy in operation, not the design targets; I have yet to see an architect quote actual energy consumption.  Bring on DECs.
-    The expectations of the people within them.  We have seen a dramatic inflation in people’s expectations of the environment in a building.  While the demands are for 23-25 C so that people can walk in their shorts at home at any time of year is excessive.  Halogen lights on everywhere, a fridge in the kitchen and beer fridge in the garage and so on.

What’s your top sustainability goal?
-    Educate your building users to operate buildings efficiency and to take ownership and interact
-    To have buildings designed and built to last – not just low energy or sustainable for the current day

Tell us something about Scotland which you think makes it easier achieve energy reductions in buildings?
-    Our temperate environment
-    We wear jumpers inside
-    Wind power

Urban Realm Question: How best can Scotland’s existing buildings be retro-fitted to meet 21st century environmental standards?

-    I see lots of new/refurbished buildings consuming more energy than before due to: dark ceilings or ceilings not lit so people increase light levels to make it feel brighter; higher light levels than needed; daylighting not being used to optimally offset artificial lighting requirements (floor to ceiling)- leading to higher heat losses in winter and solar gains in summer; high solar gains in summer leading to air conditioning; high external light levels; high distribution heat losses and standing losses of boilers; underfloor heating designed to operate at too high a temperature and without heavy weight building; controls that do not allow a deadband – so it’s either heating or cooling; no means of heat escape at high level, with windows opening lower down, leading to A/C requirements; server rooms having A/C as standard and so on.  These are all asset issues, not due to occupation.

-    The challenge for refurbishment is understanding the whole building. We need to learn the lessons across the new build to understand the limitations of a refurbishment.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s event…

No Comments

Tags:Building, education, event, IES, Modeling, Scotland, Sustainability, sustainable

It is now only 3 days until the first and only World Green Building Week event taking place in Scotland this year. If you have been following IES across any of our social media then you will know that we have been hard at work preparing for the “Environmental Modelling for a Low Carbon Scotland” event. Well now the programme has been finalised, the wine has been ordered and the thought trees have been built (don’t worry, we’ll get to that later).

We have also started to receive feedback from the questions posted in our previous blog that previewed our event taking place next Monday (16th Sep). One delegate believes the main challenge facing sustainable building in Scotland is “the gap between design and operational targets and modelling.  Although IES can do operational modelling, Building Standards still claim that they specify all assets, whereas they only specify elements of the assets - the specification gap arises.  The emphasis of all those talking about projects they have done should be to discuss the actual energy in operation, not the design targets, I have yet to see an architect quote actual energy consumption.  Bring on DECs”

When responding to the question put forward by Urban Realm (How best can Scotland’s existing buildings be retro-fitted to meet 21st century environmental standards), the delegate answered - “The challenge for refurbishment is understanding the whole building. We need to learn the lessons across the new build to understand the limitations of a refurbishment”.

There will also be plenty of opportunity to express your views at the event itself. Dotted around the venue you will see five ‘Thought trees’ which ask key questions to get the debate flowing. It’s easy to get involved – write your views on the tags and hang them on the trees. Each ‘Tree’ poses a different question, with each of your answers forming a crucial part of the post event discussion.

Any other questions or issues you’d like to discuss? Let us know by using our #tag #LowCO2Scot11 or drop us a line at events@iesve.com.

No Comments

Tags:Building, DECs, design, Discussion, event, IES, Modeling, Scotland, Sustainability

World Green Building Week is held annually to highlight the importance of sustainable buildings for businesses, communities and individuals across the world. Each year, international Green Building Councils and their members are encouraged to co-ordinate activities and hold events that reflect what sustainability means to them.

IES, Buro Happold and Archtecture+Design Scotland have got together and decided it was about time we held such an event in our neck of the woods! So for the first time ever, a WGBW event will take place in Scotland.  “Environmental Modelling for a Low Carbon Scotland” will take place on Monday 19th September at The Lighthouse in Glasgow, from 18.00 – 20.00.

The evening will kick off with a drinks reception and a presentation from Buro Happold on the role of energy & environmental modelling in delivering greener buildings, including insights into a number of Scottish projects including the new Glasgow Riverside Museum and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

The event is not only an excuse to drink wine and eat nibbles (which of course will be provided!). But also an opportunity for the different elements of the building design community to come together and discuss what is happening in our industry.

We will be coming up with questions to get the debate flowing, and we want to hear your views! Try these two on for starters…

What’s the biggest sustainably challenge you’re facing in Scotland?
What’s your top sustainability goal?

Urban Realm have also provided us with a question for you to discuss…

How best can Scotland’s existing buildings be retro-fitted to meet 21st century environmental standards?

If you would like to suggest a question or wish to give a reply to one listed above, just use the #tag - #LowCO2Scot11 or leave a comment on this post.

To register for this exclusive event simply email events@iesve.com with your details and we’ll get back to you with a confirmation.

We look forward to meeting you at The Lighthouse!

No Comments

Tags:Building, design, event, IES, Modeling, Scotland, Sustainability, UKGBC

This year’s Greenbuild Expo took place on June 29th & 30th at Manchester Central. The event attracted over 4,000 attendees which marked a 50% rise in visitor numbers from 2010’s event. Not bad eh?

So what is Greenbuild Expo and why should we stick it in our calendar? Well in a nutshell…

“The UK’s newest sustainable building and refurbishment event, an essential and informative event for the construction industry covering everything from training opportunities and renewable technologies to sustainable materials and legislation updates.”

Launching in 2009, Greenbuild Expo is an event still its infancy but these record figures represent the positive impact this event will have on our industry. It is great to see more and more sustainable building events taking place in the UK, and I also find it refreshing to see the green building flag being flown outside of London too.

IES were involved in this year’s event as Dr Sarah Graham; our UK Business Development Manager, hosted a seminar on day two in the Foyer room, where she focused on the use of software in the low-carbon design process, weaving in lean, clean, green principles. The session also looked at the difference between this and achieving compliance, how to combine the two, and how this all relates to the revived trend towards BIM and Integrated Project Delivery. You can view the presentation below.

So what will 2012’s Greenbuild Expo have in store? Well the organisers plan is simple – bigger and better!

One thing’s for sure - IES will be there (with bells on!)

No Comments

Tags:Building, event, Greenbuild, IES, software, Sustainability

Last week our Software Development Director, Pete Thompson, returned from the 10th International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) Symposium. Pete, who is now a regular attendee of this yearly event, is the creator of Simulex, our tool which enables you to define a building and its occupants, and simulate how they move around a building day-to-day and evacuate during an emergency. The event was hosted by the Department of Fire Protection Engineering and took place in College Park, Maryland, USA.

With over 400 scientists and engineers attending the Symposium, it offers a great networking opportunity as IES continues to push into the North American market. While in the states Pete met with Don, our Managing Director, who is in the middle of a 4 country, 9 city, 32 day, 18 flight N.American & Asia trip. That’s a lot of timezones!

While at the event Pete was asked to co-chair a workshop examining how science and computing power feed into the process of modern building design and approval. The aim of the session was to “facilitate discussions between experimentalists (advancing the basic science & data), developers, users, and regulators to increase the information flow between the disciplines and attempt to focus minds on common areas of concern and benefit”. The workshop, entitled “Fire & Escape Modeling – from bits and bytes to safe buildings”, is available in the PowerPoint slides below, and they also contain links to the other discussions which took place during this block of sessions.

No Comments

Tags:Discussion, Engineers, fire safety, IES, Modeling, safety, software, USA

The 2011 Annual ASHRAE Conference is in full swing in Montreal! The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Sustainability Knows No Borders,’ and that’s certainly the topic of discussion over the last few days.

The discussions I’ve been a part of have focused on the role of building performance modelling on new buildings – how can that interface with defining what EUI means in the US? More data is needed before this can be effectively determined, but we can certainly learn from the experiences of the European rating systems already in place.

(For more on the topic, I did some Googling last night in my hotel room and came across this slide presentation from another conference – EUEC – which you might find interesting. Take a look.
(http://www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin/building-ratings)

ASHRAE knew we could learn a lot from other countries when they chose Montreal for this year’s conference. The city is known for bringing a bit of European charm to North America, blending cultures, languages and people from all over the world, culminating in a unique and vibrant joie de vivre.

ASHRAE couldn’t be more in line with that concept – their goal for the coming year is to partner with other international organizations in profound ways to influence energy policy around the world. They’ve already started, working with The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) in developing the Building EQ rating program, which provides a technically sound tool that rates a build¬ing’s energy performance and helps to characterize specific buildings that are candidates for improvement.

Leading the charge in working with international organizations to make ASHRAE an international symbol of HVAR&C excellence is new president Ron Jarnagin and the board, which were all appointed at yesterday’s Presidential luncheon. The focus for Mr. Jarnagin is on developing leadership within ASHRAE and positioning ASHRAE as a global leader in energy issues.

That’s all for now, I’m heading into another session. If you’re at the show, share your thoughts with us below!

No Comments

Tags:ASHRAE, Building, CIBSE, Discussion, Modeling