IES Blog

As you may or may not know, in the past the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) have provided a non-domestic software validation service for UK building regulations. They issued a statement on 13th January 2012 proposing to withdraw this service and instead make it a so-called “self-funding” operation where they will charge software suppliers a fee each time their software requires validation. These proposed fees include an Initial validation fee of up to £16,000 and then a re-validation fee of up to £10,000 thereafter.

We believe that these proposed charges are unreasonable and potentially unlawful.  They will not only have a serious negative impact on the UK construction industry but the entire UK economy and the Governments Carbon Reduction objectives will suffer as well.

Some of the most concerning issues are:
•    The charges will discourage new entrants to the market, and will cause existing software vendors to withdraw products due to cost of development and validation.
•    There will be fewer products, less competition, poorer quality software, and a climate in which vendors take a very conservative attitude to innovation.
•    Charges cannot be justified in terms of the work involved in the validation exercise.
•    It is unreasonable to impose a blanket fee for re-validation since the size of this task varies enormously depending on what needs to be done. In our experience this had ranged from a check on a table of numbers to a full examination of every aspect of the analysis.
•    The number of job losses will increase because companies will no longer be able to provide free or low cost products due to the cost of validation which will impact on many of the smaller service based businesses that rely on this software to be competitive in the mass market.
•    There will be no charges for iSBEM and ORCalc software which are both provided by the government. Why should the government be spending taxpayers’ money to compete in an established commercial market with a number of established vendors whilst at the same time imposing punitive, excessive, unjustified and arbitrary charges only on competing commercial products?
•    The proposals are not practically workable and will fundamentally damage an industry which plays a vital role in tackling the UK’s carbon reduction objectives.
•    IES have been a strong supporter of the Governments low energy drive and invested heavily in making Part L effective. We also provide free tools (SBEM interface and DEC software) and free support for these tools to the industry. There are thousands of small companies that rely on these tools that become untenable if we have to pay the proposed charges.

These are just a selection of the reasons why the DCLG must reconsider their statement. A full list can be found in this news item on our website.

We would like to appeal for your support and assistance on this matter. If you agree with any of the points above please take a moment to email Peter Matthews {Peter.Matthew@communities.gsi.gov.uk} and DCLG minister Andrew Stunnel {enquiries@andrewstunell.org.uk} to register your opposition to these charges. Failure to do so could lead to long lasting damage to our industry and will make the UK’s carbon reduction objectives far more difficult to achieve. We reasonably request that the DCLG’s current statement on software validation is withdrawn pending discussions and agreement on a more practical way forward.

Thank you for your time.

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Tags:construction, DCLG, energy, IES, software, UK, UK Government

Being a member of the IES team I always find it very intriguing to find out how our software is being used across the world and I enjoy reading about projects we have been part of. From museums to Mosques, airports to theatres, we have notched up some interesting case studies along the way. The latest of these case studies to join our IES Showcase is the Central Karakoram National Park.

E + +, an expert company in energy technology, focused on renewable sources and energy efficiency, and ILA studio architects, have worked together to successfully evaluate and improve the energy efficiency of an integrated environmental design for the proposed head office building of the Central Karakorum National Park in Pakistan. Using the IES Virtual Environment (IES VE) the analysis allowed them to assess the actual sustainability of the model and the possible improvements that could be made to make it a much more energy efficient and high performing design.

The Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) is one of the most important parks in Pakistan, bordering China, Afghanistan and India. In order to promote sustainable development of the area, the Italian Committee Ev-K2-CNR, through the SEED project, is working in the region to support the deployment and management of the park and improve the quality of life and livelihoods of local people. Among the key focuses of the project is the design of a new sustainable headquarters building for the park.

To ensure the energy efficiency of the building, E++ and ILA Studio worked in collaboration to analyse the predicted energy usage of the building right from the early stages of the design process. Taking in to account climatic and environmental considerations, they carried out the analysis using using VE-Pro modules MacroFlo, ApacheSim, ApacheHVAC and ApacheCalc.

To read the full story on this project click here. You can also visit our website to view our Case Study Showcase.

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Tags:Building, E + +, IES, Modeling, software, Sustainability

Seattle Space Needle

When you think about the “big cities” in the U.S., and the ones that are usually at the forefront of trends, you usually think of New York City and San Francisco.

But Seattle?

According to a recent article in Sustainable Industries, Seattle is proving to be a powerhouse when it comes to energy efficiency in commercial buildings.

“Seattle’s buildings provide one of the greatest opportunities to generate energy savings and boost economic development for the city,” Department of Planning and Development director Diane Sugimura said in a news release. “This new program will help building owners take a key step toward increasing building energy efficiency, which, in turn, helps lower operating costs, makes buildings more competitive and creates good local jobs.”

That’s what it’s all about after all. Increasing energy efficiency within buildings for a truly sustainable future. The savings in terms of money is a bonus.

Next week, Seattle Energy & Design Roundtable will be hosting an event at the US Bank Center Building. Our U.S. Business Development Manager Nathan Kegel will be discussing VE-Gaia from early phase design all the way through project completion and submittal to rating authorities. Dan Munn and Matt Glassman from DLR Group will then present on how they used IES VE for early phase design and highlight training programs used at DLR to help architects reach the Architecture 2030 goals.

Speaking of Architecture 2030, the Architecture 2030 District mentioned in the article certainly sounds like a model for success. I’ll be interested to see the successes there.

So we’ll be keeping our eyes on Seattle and the many other cities developing and implementing energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings. It’s an exciting time for sustainable design!

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Tags:Architecture 2030, DLR, IES VE, Seattle, Sustainability

We’ve had a few requests this month to discuss what support we provide for people looking to learn the software from scratch.

We offer loads of ways to help you learn the software…

1) Have you tried our “Getting Started” Tutorials?
You can download an example model and work through the PDF Guide, which provides a basic overview of all our VE-Pro modules.

You can get started here:

> Example Model
> Completed Model
> PDF Guide

2. Still struggling?
Why not sign up to our forums where our clients and our support staff get together to discuss issues, solve problems and generally provide help to one another.

3.  Did you know that we conduct weekly web demos? Each week our Consultants are online to give you an overview of the modules, so that you can see them in action.

4. We provide training on all our modules! We also offer bespoke training options, you can come to us or we can come to your office, you can even do it online! If you’re worried about cost, student e-training is £60 per person per session, or you may be eligible for funding.

5. If your licence does not cover maintenance and support you now have the option to purchase support credits and get some more expert assistance form the good looking guys in our tech support.

There are also many universities that teach our software as part of their Sustainable Architecture, Building Simulation (and many more) courses. This provides you with a support framework of other students and lecturers to help you through your learning process!

If you can think of any other ways that we can help you, then please get in touch!

Kaye

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Tags:Architects, Building, Engineers, software, Training, VE-Pro

Football season kicks off in the US this month, and the Big Apple has a brand new green home for its two teams.

2010 is the first season for the New Meadowlands Stadium, the new 82,000-seat home of the Giants and the Jets, in East Rutherford, NJ, just a few miles west of New York City.  The $1.6 billion venue was constructed right next to its now-demolished predecessor, Giants Stadium.  It has twice the square footage, holds more people, and boasts many more amenities than the old stadium.

Its builders say it’s “one of the greenest stadiums in America.”  Last year, the EPA signed an agreement with its owners to “incorporate eco-friendly materials and standards into [its] construction and operation.”

But did it apply for LEED certification?  No.

According to Sports Business Journal, the stadium would have been “one or two points shy” of the total needed to be LEED certified because of the glass used to enclose its 200 luxury suites.  The mullions that seal the insulated glass that they could have installed would have obstructed fans’ view of the field, so the stadium’s management chose less-insulated (and less energy-efficient) glass, and elected not to pursue LEED certification because they knew they would have come up short.

Still, there are plenty of features that would have given the New Meadowlands Stadium plenty of LEED points, including:

- The stadium is on a brownfield site in the New Jersey Meadowlands

- It was built with 60,000 tons of recycled steel, including some from old Giants Stadium

- The seats are made of recycled plastic and scrap iron

- A new rail service takes fans to and from the stadium, cutting down on auto traffic

- The men’s rooms have waterless urinals

The stadium has gotten plenty of positive publicity in the green community, and rightfully so.  Its builders went above and beyond to make it as green as possible, despite its lack of LEED certification.  But still, it’s a shame that windows are the obstacle preventing the new crown jewel of America’s favorite sport from really leading the way.

Besides, aren’t you supposed to watch the game outside anyway?

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Tags:communications, LEED, LEED Certification, recycle, recycling

In Architecture there is a persistent organic theme of using the environment to inform both urban and built form; obviously vernacular architecture is a demonstration of this, but in the latter half of the 20th century people have explored this theme in more detail, such that cause and effect is well explained.

In the past, greatest interest in this theme has occurred at times of energy crisis and now with climate change high on the global political and social agenda, there is a real demand for solutions that are climate responsive and adaptive to climate change.  Some of this is taught in Universities and so has a familiarity especially to Architects.

The main reason why Bio-Climatic analysis has not been applied extensively in the past is due to the breadth and depth of the subject and the fact that the logic is somewhat fuzzy.  Manually doing it properly is complex, difficult and very time consuming.  Thus few have been able to master it and turn it to everyday use.  However, the desire to utilise Bio-Climatic analysis is still alive and kicking.

Over the past few years, IES have researched this subject globally and developed the logic to a level where we can automate it, and have consequentially developed a Bio-Climatic tool, which we recently launched.

As part of the evolving VE Gaia product, Bio-Climatic analysis is used in conjunction with other Gaia tools to provide a rich source of knowledge about weather / climate data and the built environment.  It delivers complex knowledge and analysis about what may be appropriate design strategies by providing a detailed list of suggestions appropriate to the specific climate data chosen.

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Tags:Architects, bio-climate, Building, climate

Recently I have been looking at the weather data we use for dynamic simulations using the Gaia rapid analysis tools. When you consider what we used 10 years ago these datasets are a huge increase in resolution, but ….

The attached graphic shows a Mahoney analysis (this looks at monthly trends) of the CIBSE current & climate change weather files for London; you can easily see the progression over time in the climate …. the change in heating and cooling degree day data (HDD & CDD) and the increasing summer season is stark …. but there are inconsistencies in the data, the 2050 data being a case in point.

Overall this should be sufficient cause for building professionals to at least carry out a risk analysis on the robustness of their designs for + 50-80 years hence i.e. the correct fundamental form plus the ability to adapt, but we must accept that the data we use is much closer to the raw edge of science than it ever used to be and it will evolve with the science !

Richard Quincey

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Tags:Building, CIBSE, climate

The New CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme came into force on 1st April

The new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme began in earnest on the 1st April! The scheme aims to achieve an annual energy reduction of 3.2m tonnes by 2020 and stimulate businesses to make their buildings more energy efficient.  It affects around 20,000 organisations – is yours one of them?

Any organisation with a half hourly settled electricity meter needs to do something.  It was the requirement for qualifying organisations to start monitoring energy usage from all qualifying sources that started on 1st April 2010.  And whilst it may be straight forward to gather retrospective data from half hourly sources, this may not always be the case for class 5-8 meters, for example, which are also considered as core sources under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

Those qualifying for the CRC will also need to register while those under the threshold still need to make an information disclosure.  Both actions must be done before 30 September 2010.  However, as the process could take up to 4 weeks to complete don’t leave it until the 29th September!

A raft of recent surveys indicates just how confused and unprepared organisations are for its implementation…

A survey by energy consultancy McKinnon and Clarke found that 54 per cent of participants were uncertain whether they come under the scheme, which encompasses all bodies and businesses with half-hourly meters (HHMs) that consumed more than 6,000 MWh of electricity during 2008.  Around 5,000 of the UK’s heaviest energy users will need to participate fully, while another 15,000 odd organisations that consumed less will need to make an information disclosure. 

In addition, the survey also found that three in five companies had not factored in the financial implications of having to participate fully in the scheme.  At the lowest qualifying level, a typical organisation will pay £45,000 a year to advance purchase allowances at a rate of £12 per tonne of carbon dioxide.  In addition, they will be placed in a league table, showing their carbon emissions relative to their peers.  Companies at the bottom of the table will be penalised, with the money recycled into rewards for the most energy-efficient.

In another survey by the power supplier Npower, nearly half of companies surveyed said official advice about the new legislation had been “inadequate”.  About 49 per cent said they did not understand how to buy the necessary carbon allowances and 44 per cent said they do not know how to forecast their carbon emissions.

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Tags:Building, carbon assessor, Environment, recycle, recycling, Renewables

As a software developer the similarities between how we build and develop the software and how architects design buildings has always struck me. In this blog, I’d like to talk about how the architecture design concept of software engineering.

What is Software Architecture?

The software architecture is a structure which comprises of different elements, the external visible properties of these elements and relationships among them. It’s the organization process of defining a solution that meets all of the technical and operational requirements. It involves a series of decisions on a wide range of factors such as quality, performance, maintainability and overall success of the application.

Why is Architecture Important?

Like a complex building structure, software must have a solid foundation. Failing to consider key scenarios, design for common problems or to predict the long term consequence of a key decision can put the development work at risk. Poor architecture can make the software unstable, produce more bugs during coding phase and it is hard to support development for future business requirements.

The architecture design is an important phase of the whole development process; full consideration of user requirements, business goal and system ability, it draws a blueprint for the later work. At this stage, you should outline all the key scenarios in great details and identify all the possible pros and cons of each software attribute.

We should consider high level concerns instead of implementation details when designing architecture:

• How will the user be using the application?
• How the features of the application will benefit the user?
• How can the application be designed to be maintainable to meet the development schedule?

To understand the user requirements is the key to good architecture design, the software is just a service product which offers convenience and efficiency, all the design should be based on the consideration of those two factors.

The Goals of Architecture

An ideal architecture should be a perfect conversion between business requirements and technique requirements by understanding user cases and then defining a clear and neat way to implement those requirements by programming the software.

A good design is sufficiently flexible to be able to handle all of the user case studies and scenarios, both functional and quality requirements, efficient in implementation details.

The Principles of Architecture Design

Design the architecture with evolution in mind so that it will be able to adapt to requirements that are not fully known at the start of the design process, do not try to over engineer the architecture, and make assumptions that you can’t verify.

Instead you should keep your options open for future changes, identify the foundational parts of the architecture that represent the greatest risk if you get them wrong.

Key Architecture Principles

• Building software for change instead of building to last. There are always new requirements and feedbacks.
• Identifying critical decisions. Identify the areas where mistakes and further changes are most often made, getting these key engineering decisions right the first time so the design is more flexible.

Start with a base-line architecture to create the big picture, and then evolve the details and iteratively test and improve the architecture. Do not try to get every tiny detail right on the first attempt, get the big decision right first, and then focus on the details.

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Tags:Architects, Building, Engineers

The 8^th International Radiance Conference took place on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge Massachusetts, USA from October 21^st through the 23^rd, 2009. The event was hosted by Christoph Reinhart and Kera Lagios of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Two staff members from IES Boston attended the event, Michelle Farrell and Angela Chan. In total about 80 professionals and students attended.

Radiance was originally developed with the majority of support coming from the U.S. Department of Energy, with supplementary support from the Swiss Federal Government. One of the lead developers, Greg Ward of Anyhere Software, also attended. There was discussion around the improvements that will be available in Radiance 4.0, including a “new parallel computation facility in rvu (formerly rview), and tools for annual daylight simulations with complex fenestration systems”.

While Radiance has been around for many years, it was primarily used by experts familiar with its interface and coding. Some of the presentations focused on how the tool is being integrated with other modelling, and even parametric, software tools. Christoph Reinhart, Kera Lagios, and Jeff Niemasz of the Harvard Graduate School of Design developed a toolbar for Rhino that links it with Radiance and Daysim. Through the use of Grasshopper, key parameters of the design could be changed, and the Radiance/Daysim results respond accordingly, allowing for “the creation of animated building performance simulation.”

Other presentations, such as one by David Smith of Buro Happold, focused on the presentation of Radiance results. After giving a basic introduction to coding, Smith showed how he used Flash in combination with Radiance output to create deliverables such as “simple animations, mapping data to models, and interactive design aids”. The deliverables that he presented show the power of what reports can now contain, making the printed report or image collection seem almost archaic. A truly inspiring presentation that shows what is possible when it comes to reports when you add a little creativity.

A version of Radiance, RadianceIES, is contained within the IES Virtual Environment suite. By using Radiance as part of the IES Virtual Environment, One can use RadianceIES with LightPro or FlucsPro, also both modules in the Virtual Environment, to visualize and analyze electrical lighting schemes using VE’s extensive library of luminaires, or by importing your own photometric files. Furthermore, one can link Radiance to ApacheSIM to account for daylighting dimming strategies when running an annual energy simulation. It is this connection between the modules in the Virtual Environment that makes the IES’ software suite so powerful.

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