IES Blog

Another year, another blog about LEED

There’s never a shortage of opinions when you bring up the topic of LEED.

Last year, we blogged about whether or not LEED certification was working, questioning the goals of the program. We decided that if the goal is to increase awareness for better design and sustainability, regardless of whether or not a building ultimately achieves certification, then the program is succeeding. The way we see it, a better building is a better building, certification or not.

After reading a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel, the question of whether or not “going green” impacts a business was one I thought I’d weigh in on.

The Headquarter Honda dealership in Florida is LEED Platinum. Only nine other buildings in the state — all of them constructed for educational, military, aerospace or government purposes — share this rating. An exceptional accomplishment when you look at it comparatively. But as Kevin questions, “Does securing that mark of planet-friendly excellence help sell Accords, Civics and Odysseys?”

Maybe not. But for the owner of the dealership, the energy savings alone seem to be worth the certification. “According to estimates based on more than a year’s worth of utility bills, the 30 percent premium will be recouped in a decade, Esteve said, which in the long run will make the building cheaper to own than one with a more conventional design.”

I’m not going to tell you that LEED certification is a necessity for every building. But I do think you should consider the requirements as part of your building process. If nothing else, a focus on implementing various energy-saving technologies and being aware of factors such as daylighting and the like will ensure a building will be viable for many years to come. LEED Platinum or not, that’s something we can all appreciate.

2 Comments

Tags:Add new tag, Building, daylighting, design, energy, Green, LEED, Platinum, Rating, Sustainability

IES sat down with 16 architects, engineers and contractors at the Denver Revit Users Group last Thursday for a roundtable discussion. The result? Some great conversation about how best to utilize Building Information Modeling, a sustainable building analysis tool.

IES worked with Colorado-based Ambient Energy, a building performance and sustainable design consulting company, to showcase some of BIM’s more practical uses. The relatively new technology doesn’t just spit out data and geometric designs anymore. More and more often, we are seeing BIM taking on a different role. The spatial relationships and geographic information can help architects and engineers out in a big way; from daylight penetration to average temperature and wind direction, analysis software is an integral part of sustainable design.

An IES and Ambient Energy project at Colorado State University in 2011 proved the point. Faced with the challenge of designing a more efficient atrium for the school’s Engineering II building, Ambient Energy consultants used IES’ VE-Pro software to test and verify their various energy efficiency concepts. Daylight and mixed mode ventilation analyses run early in the schematic redesign process determined which window and ventilation solutions would work best with maximized use of natural daylight. The end result was a more efficient atrium with a much smaller carbon output. You can view the video case study for this project on the IESVE YouTube page.

This type of integrated design process is something we expect to see a lot more of as sustainable design continues to work its way into the commercial space.

No Comments

Tags:Architects, BIM, Building, daylighting, design, Engineers, IES, Modeling, Revit, Sustainability, VE-Pro, YouTube

Just adding a few LED lightbulbs and a low flow toilet does not a sustainable building make. Yes, you will save energy and money over the course of time with these eco-friendly choices, but the most important choices are the ones you make before you even break ground on the building.

Consider this:
During the lifetime of a building, the initial investment of construction represents 20 percent of overall cost. A company will incur the heft of the building’s expense — 80 percent — through its operating cost, says Cary Gampher, of AIA and principal architect with The Architects Alliance. To minimize the weight of that 80 percent, utilizing sustainable design for a commercial remodel or construction is about more than making a few environmentally friendly choices.

{Taken from Jefferson City Magazine}

Looking at these numbers, it’s clear that the actual cost to construct a building is small compared to the lifetime of expenses a building owner will incur. Take, for example, natural light within a building. The impact of lighting on energy usage is enormous. Visual comfort, glare, solar irradiance – these are all factors to consider when positioning a building.

Using an early-stage analysis tool such as our VE-Pro can show you the results of positioning at different times of the year, at different times of day under multiple conditions. Looking at daylighting is also an important consideration to LEED requirements (EQc8.1).

Using advanced simulation and incorporating energy analysis into the entire design process, changes to the design of the building can be made early and often. And that’s how building owners will save on the 80% of the building expenses over the lifetime of the building. But you’ve got to do it from the very beginning.

No Comments

Tags:Building, daylighting, design, Sustainability, VE-Pro

This month’s question and answer comes directly from a discussion that was taking place on our LinkedIn IES VE user group. The group acts as a great platform for users to share their knowledge, experience and opinions and we have recently reached over 1,000 members (Go us!). The question that features in this edition comes from Ciaran McCabe, a thermal modelling consultant using the VE in Ireland. The answers were kindly provided by Rosemary, our BREEAM expert.

Do you guys tend to use IES VE Radiance or Flucs DL to measure daylight factor and uniformity to demonstrate compliance with BREEAM HEA 1? Flucs DL is a much faster module to use on larger buildings. Any opinions on this topic welcome.

We would tend to use FlucsDL for large buildings as all the rooms can be analysed at once. For BREEAM I would recommend that you set up rooms groups so that you have “occupied” and “unoccupied” rooms grouped together. The “occupied” rooms can then be selected and average daylight factors/uniformity output produced.

I now see there is a new feature in Flucs DL which deals with Sky View. Sky view at 0.7m is one way of demonstrating compliance with BREEAM Hea 1 - Daylighting. I was just having a play around with this recently and wondered if this feature is fully operational or is it still being tested. Is there any documention on how the VE calculates sky view? I suppose what I am getting at here is if I was to use this feature I would need some way to validate the result.

Sky View was included in FlucsPro and FlucsDL for BREEAM HEA1 Daylighting purposes; however it is active whenever you have performed a daylight calculation. If there is a direct line from any point on the sky grid to any point on the working plane grid (through windows and openings but without passing through any obstruction) then that point has a sky view of 1. If not it has a sky view of 0. Using a threshold value of, say, 0.5 will allow you to see the percentage area with a sky view. It is easier to see the levels if you are not in contour view (choose filled contours or grey-scale instead).

To have your question featured in our monthly Questions & AEC series, just get in touch with us on Twitter, Facebook or drop me an email at john.goucher@iesve.com.

No Comments

Tags:aec, BREEAM, daylighting, IES, LinkedIn

SimBuild 2010 in New York is right around the corner now - August 11-13 - and it’s not a moment too soon.  SimBuild is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, building modeling and simulation conferences in the world.  It only happens once every two years, so we anxiously look forward to everything that goes on there when it comes around.  We also have plenty in store for this event, too.

IES is sponsoring the show, and that gives us the chance to offer some extra training sessions to attendees.  We will be holding two workshops prior to the show.  Here’s the schedule:

• August 9 – Intermediate 3D Modeling, Daylighting, Loads Analysis, and HVAC Systems
• August 10 – Advanced and Building-Integrated Systems Modeling

Both workshops are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., including lunch and breaks, and will be held on the NYU campus (exact location TBA). 

Timothy Moore, our Senior Consultant for Special Projects, will be on hand to direct the workshops and show you the expanse of things you can do with IES <Virtual Environment> Version 6.1, such as  importing from SketchUp and Revit, daylighting simulation and whole-building energy modeling for the LEED/ASHRAE-90.1 Performance Rating Method.

Cost for the workshops is $350 for one session and $600 for both.  Registration is open now, but seats are limited, so don’t wait!

We will also have a demo of IES <VE> at the show on August 12 from 10:30-11:45 a.m., and Timothy will be making a presentation at the show as well (details still TBD).

Of course, our activities are just a small slice of all the exciting things going on at SimBuild this year, from all the workshops and presentations to the banquet that closes everything out.  For more on all that’s going on, visit here.

It’s shaping up to be a busy week for IES at SimBuild 2010.  We hope to see you in New York City!

No Comments

Tags:Building, daylighting, HVAC, IES, LEED, Revit, sketchup

One of the key challenges facing today’s building designers is understanding and tackling how to incorporate sustainable design principles into existing workflows and processes.

A ‘good design is sustainable design’ ethos promoted by quantitative analysis can make a great impact.  Architects get quick environmental feedback on design iterations and environmental engineers can input more into the design.  Achieving this kind of effective collaboration and cross-discipline understanding, in my opinion is core to achieving truly sustainable, energy-efficient building design.

The advent of BIM (Building Information Modeling), and better integration between analysis and design tools, is helping push this more integrated, information sharing approach to design team working.  In particular, the Green Building XML schema, referred to as “gbXML”, was developed to facilitate information transfer from building information models to design/energy performance analysis tools.

We’ve working hard at IES to drive such integration by developing plug-ins that link our tiered suite of analysis tools to Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Google SketchUp so users can build their designs in Revit or SketchUp and then easily translate and analyze  them in an iterative fashion.  gbXML was used to streamline the data flow from Revit to the IES <Virtual Environment> in the IES VE Revit Plug-in.

No Comments

Tags:Autodesk, daylighting, gbXML, LEED, plug-in, reduce, Revit, sketchup

An Integrative Design Process (IDP) is a collaborative approach to building design which places a strong emphasis on cross-team integration throughout the development process in pursuit of a ‘whole building’ holistic design. But where does it start and what does it really mean? How can the range of IES <VE> software tools be used to assist in the design process?

In conventional building design a project develops through a strict and rigid chain of milestones and hand-offs e.g. owner requirements to architect, architect’s concept to structural engineer, structural design to MEP engineer etc.

This conventional process means that key members of the design team are often excluded from the initial planning stage, and with the lack of their expert knowledge and insight the project can progress down the wrong path for a significant period of time before serious underlying problems are identified. This leads to inefficiency; higher capital costs, time delays, over-sized HVAC etc.

With an Integrative Design Process (IDP) all key members of the multi-disciplinary design team are included at the very beginning of the planning stage, from the initial conception of the building itself. In this way all major design decisions can be carefully considered in relation to other disciplines right from the outset. This avoids abortive work resulting from single-minded decisions and increases overall project efficiency.

So where does building performance analysis fit-in?

The IES <VE> platform provides a unique set of analysis tools that allow building performance analysis to be used throughout every stage of the project, from concept to completion. An experienced <VE> engineer becomes an integral member of the IDP team and can really help drive the design to meet aggressive sustainability targets and objectives.

Let’s look at the lifecycle of a typical project and how the <VE> could be used at each stage:

Concept: VE-Ware and VE-Toolkits used with Google SketchUp ‘massing’ models of various design options and iterations to determine performance characteristics: climate metrics, optimum site orientation, daylight feasibility, ballpark energy estimates etc.

Scheme: Findings from Concept analysis used to select the ‘optimum’ design solution which is then progressed to schematic stage. VE-Toolkits and VE-Gaia used to enhance the basic design i.e. optimize; shading, building envelope, daylight, energy etc

Detail: Enhanced model from Scheme design is driven more aggressively with VE-Gaia and VE-Pro to extract further energy savings i.e. optimize; HVAC plant selection (right-sizing), electric lighting dimming control strategy, zone set-back temperatures, boiler/chiller optimum start/stop etc.

Construction: Findings from Detail analysis input to Construction Documentation and the optimized Detail model is then
updated with ‘As-Built’ information. This ensures that the specified design has actually been installed i.e. do pressure test results match the design infiltration rates, are installed plant efficiencies and SFP’s as per the MEP spec, has the glazing data specified(u-value, SC etc.) actually been installed? Comparative VE-Pro analyses conducted to benchmark Design vs As-Built

Commissioning: Findings from Construction comparison used to drive Quality Assurance (QA) checks in order to identify areas that are not installed and performing as per design. Detailed <VE> room loads can be used to assist in production of Commissioning Documentation and for balancing calculations for duct and pipework systems.

Operation: 6months to 1yr after completion recorded BMS readings can be compared against the As-Built Construction model. Comparative analysis is used to determine areas of the building and associated HVAC plant which are not performing as per design. The building FM team continues to monitor BMS vs Model readings, making site changes where necessary to ensure that the building operates at optimum performance.

This example illustrates how the building performance analysis can be used to fully support an Integrative Design Process. By utilizing the unique four-tiered <VE> approach (VE-Ware, VE-Toolkits, VE-Gaia and VE-Pro) there is an analysis tool for every occasion which can be closely aligned with the sustainability objectives of the project in order to realize the maximum potential.

Through the use of the Google SketchUp based conceptual <VE> analysis tools a building’s energy and carbon footprint can be optimized from the initial outset of the project, before it has a chance to progress down a wrong path. By getting involved early more aggressive energy and sustainability targets can be met and realized such as LEED Platinum, Estidama 5-Pearl, BREEAM Outstanding etc

But the use of performance analysis tools at concept stage alone is not enough on to reach these higher objectives. Aggressive targets mean that an aggressive modeling strategy must be used an continued throughout the project from concept to completion. This is the only way of designing buildings that are truly ‘green’ and is the only way of taking the Integrative Design Process to ‘Infinity and Beyond’.

No Comments

Tags:BREEAM, climate, daylighting, Engineers, Estidama, HVAC, LEED, sketchup

A NEW training course from IES….

As you’re probably aware, a sustainable design revolution is underway in the building industry, and the use of performance analysis (climate, daylighting, energy, airflow) is a vital component – creating understanding of the impact of different strategies on energy consumption and other environmental metrics.  Ultimately helping to shape designs that meet sustainable goals (BREEAM, LEED) and go beyond to carbon neutral.

In achieving these targets the importance of analysis inclusion right from the early design stages is becoming increasingly recognised, with the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report highlighting that the building sector offered the best mitigation opportunities, and that:

> “An integrated design approach is required to ensure that architectural elements and engineering systems work effectively together.”

> “At early design stages, key decisions usually made by the architect can greatly influence subsequent opportunities to reduce building energy use.”

> “New software based design tools can provide good design techniques, …and virtual testing…”

This has left many with unanswered questions, such as:

> What analysis should I do when?

> What do the numbers mean?

> How can analysis inform the design process?

> What about climate?

> Will this help me incorporate passive/hybrid strategies?

> What about innovative LZCT technologies?

As a widely recognised expert in the global building performance analysis field IES has decided to take a lead on this and create a course addressing these questions. “Understanding the Fundamentals of Sustainable Design, Striving Towards Carbon Neutral”.

We’re planning on covering top tips and rules of thumb in an interactive half-day format; teaching architects, engineers and other professionals within the built environment how to better understand and visualise performance analysis within an integrated design process.

The main objectives include creating a better understanding of climate data and key weather variables, how to recognise opportunities to incorporate passive/hybrid strategies, as well as being able to ‘step into the numbers’ and interpret and understand analysis metrics within the design process and in real buildings.

The course has been developed by the head of our Sustainable Initiatives team Richard Quincey, a former Director of Building Sciences at Gifford, and a Partner at Max Fordham Associates.

We’re trialling it in London, UK during October 2009 – please email nicola.hilliard@iesve.com if you’re interested in attending.

No Comments

Tags:Architects, BREEAM, daylighting, Engineers, Environment, hints and tips, LEED, reduce, Sustainability

One of the key benefits of IES VE tools is our collaboration with Autodesk, Google and Graphisoft which allows designers and architects to use their BIM/CAD model to start performing analysis at the very early design stage. It can simplify the process of recreating the model from scratch, as you would have had to do in the traditional way.

Through this, many architects are starting to realize that building performance analysis is not only for engineers, and that by working holistically from conceptual stage, the project can achieve much better efficiencies than when analysis is left till later phases of the project.

In traditional building performance modeling, the modeler uses information from drawings, photos, etc. to construct a model within simulation software from scratch. Misinterpreting the information from CAD to building performance model is common, and in some cases important geometry might be missing from the information provided or left out of the model by accident.

As BIM becomes increasingly popular in the architecture industry and more connections to analysis tools appear and strengthen, architects can start performing analysis on different design options, including climate understanding, building orientation, massing during conceptual stages, and as the design develops, analysis such as daylight assessment, water review, heating/cooling loads, renewable use, etc. IES has a direct plug-in for both Autodesk Revit and Google SketchUp, as well as direct connectivity to Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

One important thing to note is that there are some fundamental differences between an energy model and an architectural model used to generate construction documents. Schema’s such as gbXML (www.gbxml.org) are used to streamline the data flow between BIM platforms and analysis tools, so users should have an understanding of how this works and what will translate, and what will not. 

A model that is very heavy in details will affect the computation time of the simulation. One of the things I like to do whenever I start running simulation is to spend 15-30 minutes cleaning up any elements that are not necessary for energy analysis (of course doing a “Save As” on your existing model first). I know a lot of architects are probably saying if we have a direct plug-in, why do I want to waste all this time cleaning up the model? Isn’t that the reason why we want to use the plug-in?

Spending a little extra time cleaning up a model before running a simulation, will reduce the file size and run time; if you are doing a few simulations it’s definitely worth the time. The IES VE will still run the simulation if you don’t clean up the model, but it will go through every element within it trying to figure out what needs to be included and what doesn’t, which can take a lot of time. Plus, the more detail you have in the model, the more risk of inaccuracy during translation. If you want to understand more about model translation, visit our website for whitepapers on both SketchUp and Revit to IES: http://www.iesve.com/Learning/IES-Whitepapers

No Comments

Tags:Architects, BIM, daylighting, Engineers, gbXML, plug-in, plug-ins, reduce, Renewables, Revit, sketchup

Reviewing the new Green Building Design and Construction LEED Reference Guide (aka LEED 2009) I found it ‘interesting’ how EQc8.1 Daylight 75% of Spaces has been revamped.  I’ve entered the arena of air quotes as I’m torn on whether this latest change will benefit the industry or create a roadblock.  First, though, some context:

Back in the day when it was just LEED-NC (New Construction), there were three main options for meeting the requirements for EQc8.1, Daylight 75% of Spaces:
 Option 1: Glazing Factor Calculations
 Option 2: Daylight Simulation Model
 Option 3: Daylight Measurement

I would hazard a guess that the majority of projects pursued Option 1.  Although not so simple, it was still a glorified excel spreadsheet that you filled out, room by room, using the long equation provided that incorporated room and window areas, window properties and locations.  It was something simple enough that anyone could learn.

However, I remember one lab building I worked on where we ended up trying out all three options.  The daylight simulation (Option 2) and field measurement (Option 3) results were relatively similar but the glazing factor calculations (Option 1) was that strange outlier that started to reveal the gross limitations that occur when reducing a dynamic situation such as daylighting into a linear equation with only a few variables.

Then came along LEED-CS (Core and Shell) and a fourth option was added, geared mainly for the generic office building that would use the rating system – simple rectangular floor plate with a central core:
Option 4: Prescriptive

This was the simplest calculation that replicated the good old rule of thumb used in bygone days – i.e. for a building with floor depth X you need Y for window area.

Now fast forward to today and LEED 2009.  There are really just three main options: Options 2 - 4 listed above.  Say goodbye to the glazing factor calculations (Option 1). If you consider most buildings are not simple rectangles and project owners don’t want to gamble and wait to see if they qualify for the daylight credit, you’re really just left with one option – daylight simulation model.

For a public comfortable with a simple spreadsheet to show compliance, the thought of using a computer model is, well, like night and day.  Most will initially think of daylight modeling as something outside their ability.  The good news is that this isn’t the case.  We’ve been seeing an increase in engagement with daylighting software to inform design, especially in the architectural field – be it through purchasing IES software to use directly or subbing it out and using our consultancy services.

Will this be seen as moving LEED away from streamlining and simplifying the process?  Or will it be perceived as encouraging a more informed and iterative design process?  One conclusion we can all agree on is that at least it’s one less long equation to memorize when studying for the AP exam!

No Comments

Tags:daylighting, Green Building, LEED, LEED 2009, LEED AP, LEED NC