A Review: Simple Tools for Evaluating the Energy Performance in Early Design Stages

Abstract To make performance-based design decisions, an energy performance evaluation should be integrated into the design process. Simple tools can provide easy and rapid performance analysis without requiring detailed information as inputs. This paper presents a review of ten simple tools regarding their application, characteristics, modeling/calculation features and outputs. The key discussion focuses on the establishment of the necessary inputs. This study intends to clarify the effective approach of establishing those necessary inputs and find out the obstacles in this process. Note that building properties (BP) templates can extensively simplify the setup of construction data, internal load data and conditioning data. The lack of a method to efficiently establish energy setting parameters is recognized as the obstacle in the process of BP data setup. Reusing Building Information Model (BIM) data of past well-designed projects is expected to be a good approach to overcome that obstacle.

[1]  Toke Rammer Nielsen,et al.  Simple tool to evaluate energy demand and indoor environment in the early stages of building design , 2005 .

[2]  Vítor Leal,et al.  Building envelope shape design in early stages of the design process: Integrating architectural design systems and energy simulation , 2013 .

[3]  Edward Henry Mathews,et al.  A new simplified thermal design tool for architects , 2001 .

[4]  Kyosuke Hiyama.  Assigning Robust Default Values in Building Performance Simulation Software for Improved Decision-Making in the Initial Stages of Building Design , 2015, TheScientificWorldJournal.

[5]  Svend Svendsen,et al.  WinSim: A simple simulation program for evaluating the influence of windows on heating demand and risk of overheating , 1998 .

[6]  Jon Hand,et al.  CONTRASTING THE CAPABILITIES OF BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE SIMULATION PROGRAMS , 2008 .

[7]  David Jason Gerber,et al.  Designing-in performance: A framework for evolutionary energy performance feedback in early stage design , 2014 .

[8]  L. Glicksman,et al.  COOLVENT: A MULTIZONE AIRFLOW AND THERMAL ANALYSIS SIMULATOR FOR NATURAL VENTILATION IN BUILDINGS , 2008 .

[9]  J. Virgone,et al.  Design of buildings shape and energetic consumption , 2001 .

[10]  Shady Attia,et al.  Simulation-based decision support tool for early stages of zero-energy building design , 2012 .

[11]  Tianzhen Hong,et al.  Building simulation: an overview of developments and information sources , 2000 .

[12]  R. Renuka,et al.  On Intuitionistic Fuzzy β-Almost Compactness and β-Nearly Compactness , 2015, TheScientificWorldJournal.

[13]  Shinsuke Kato,et al.  A new method for reusing building information models of past projects to optimize the default configuration for performance simulations , 2014 .

[14]  Arno Schlueter,et al.  Building information model based energy/exergy performance assessment in early design stages , 2009 .

[15]  I. G. Capeluto,et al.  Strategic decision-making for intelligent buildings: Comparative impact of passive design strategies and active features in a hot climate , 2008 .

[16]  Vítor Leal,et al.  Envelope-related energy demand: A design indicator of energy performance for residential buildings in early design stages , 2013 .