Building Energy Modelling Workflows for Swedish Certification Assessments

Abstract

Environmental Building Certification (EBC) assessments are often time-consuming and challenging, as they encompass a lengthy process that includes modelling, simulation, proofing, credit calculation, and report writing. Hence, there is a growing need to streamline this process.

The objective of this thesis is to examine existing Building Energy Modelling (BEM) workflows and evaluate their ability to extract building geometry from Autodesk Revit with minimal losses, to facilitate detailed simulation capabilities for Swedish EBC, and to enable both low learning curve for automation development and the required automation functionality. The aim is to develop a streamlined BEM workflow specifically designed for Miljöbyggnad and BREEAM-SE. The method employed involves conducting a comparative study of a building case, reviewing the BEM workflows and their online resources and literature, and performing a strengths and weaknesses analysis of the developed workflow.

In essence, the findings indicate that none of the analysed BEM tools (DesignBuilder, Honeybee, ClimateStudio, IDA ICE, IESVE, and TasEngineering) fully meets all three criteria: good BIM-BEM interoperability, complete compatibility for Swedish EBC, and high post-simulation automation feasibility. The study highlights the challenges in performing Miljöbyggnad thermal comfort assessments, the shortage of IDA ICE’s alternatives for Swedish EBC assessments and the limited options of reliable BIM-BEM interoperability approach from Revit. The Revit Pollination plug-in, which facilitate refinement and validation of the energy analytic model before exporting, is a valuable innovation for achieving good BIM-BEM interoperability. The developed BEM workflow (Honeybee) with multiple plug-ins including Pollination, Ironbug, Ghpython, and TT-Toolbox demonstrated high efficiency but is unsuitable for Swedish EBC assessments.

Popular Abstract

The assessment process of Environmental Building Certification (EBC) can be time-consuming and challenging as it encompasses a long process from building modelling, simulation, proofing, credit calculation, and report writing. Due to frequent data loss and misinterpretation during the transfer process from Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Building Energy Modelling (BEM), sustainability consultants often spend hours on redrawing a 3D geometry model in a BEM tool using simple 2D CAD drawings. Meanwhile, even though there are plentiful free and commercial BEM tools available in market, not all of them are suitable for EBC assessments in Sweden due to limitations in comprehensive level of details and customization for compliance with Swedish EBCs. Furthermore, stemming from complexity of buildings and building regulations; evidence documentations and credit calculations can be repetitive, error-prone, and laborious.

To address these challenges, the thesis aims to identify a suitable BEM workflow that can extract building geometry from Autodesk Revit with minimal losses (good BIM-BEM interoperability), facilitate adequate level of details for Miljöbyggnad and BREEAM-SE certification assessments (complete compatibility for Swedish EBC), along with enabling both low learning curve for automation development and required automation functionality (high post-simulation automation feasibility). This allows sustainability consultants to focus on design improvements and innovations in aim of making buildings sustainable and energy efficient. The employed method includes several components, including a comparative study of a building case, reviews of BEM workflows and their online resources and literature, a questionnaire survey, and a strength-weakness analysis of the developed workflow.

In essence, none of the analysed BEM workflow (IDA ICE, Honeybee, ClimateStudio, TasEngineering, DesignBuilder, and IESVE) meets three performance criteria: good BIM-BEM interoperability, complete compatibility for Swedish EBC and high post-simulation automation feasibility. The study reveals the limited options of BEM tools specifically designed for Swedish EBC compliance and reliable BIM-BEM interoperability approaches from Revit in the current market. None of the IDA ICE alternatives can meet the requirements for input capability regarding the location and physical size of room heating units, as well as the output capability for thermal comfort metrics at a point with the highest discomfort within a room, without incorporating a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation workflow. These findings emphasize the challenging nature of conducting thermal comfort simulations for Miljöbyggnad assessments and shortage of substitutes of IDA ICE for Swedish EBC assessment. In addition, the concept of Revit Pollination plug-in is determined to be a valuable innovation for extracting building geometry from Revit to BEM. Enabling users to “clean-up”, visualize, and validate the analytic model prior to exporting is an essential step of creating reliable energy analytical model from Revit file. Lastly, the developed BEM workflow (Honeybee) that incorporate multiple plug-ins including Pollination, Ironbug, Ghpython, and TT-Toolbox, shown significant efficiency but it is not suitable for Swedish EBC assessments.

• author: Tan, Ji Onn
• supervisor: Ricardo Bernardo; Agnieszka Czachura; Jonas Gremmelspacher
• organization: Division of Energy and Building Design; Department of Architecture and Built Environment
• course: AEBM01 20231
• year: 2023
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Building Information Modelling (BIM), Building Energy Modelling (BEM), Interoperability, Miljöbyggnad, BREEAM-SE, BBR, Automation, Scripting, Environmental Building Certification.
• language: English
• id: 9123740
• date added to LUP: 2023-06-14 09:01:52
• date last changed: 2023-06-14 09:01:52