Sustainable Design, Green Buildings, LEED, and BIM

What is Sustainability?

'Sustainability' is among the most popular terms in the construction industry and has almost become a buzzword. Environmental conservation is one thing that comes to mind when Sustainability is mentioned.

However, Sustainability requires a balance between the?Environmental, Social, and Economic?factors within a Product, Project, or Service - this is known as?The Triple Bottom Line.

• Economically:?The building industry generates trillions of dollars in revenue worldwide every year.
• Socially:?Humans spend up to 90% of their lives in buildings, and the industry accounts for millions of jobs worldwide.
• Environmentally:?The industry consumes about 40% of the world's energy, emits about 40% of the world's Greenhouse Gases (GHG), contributes about 30% of the world's waste output and consumes about 15% of the global drinkable water.

Hence, Sustainable Buildings require a balance between these three factors.

What is a Green Building?

On one hand, a Green Building is an environmentally friendly facility that consumes less energy, water and materials and produces less waste than a traditional building - offering a healthy environment for its occupants through excellent Indoor Environmental Quality.

On another hand, Green Building is an ongoing process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life cycle - starting from siting to design, construction, operations, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

According to the report?'The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings' by Capital E in the USA , Green Buildings bring about:

• 30-50% Energy Savings,
• 35% Carbon Savings,
• 30-50% Water Use Savings, and
• 50-90% Waste Cost Savings.

In essence, Green Buildings are a vital part of the solutions to our planet's environmental challenges. And the movement is all about our responses to reduce environmental impacts while promoting user comfort.

Green Rating Systems - for Building Certifications

A Green Rating System is a tool, system, or framework to incorporate and measure Sustainability in a building project. There are several such rating systems, the most popular being the?Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Based on the LEED Rating System,?nine areas?address the critical aspects of Green Buildings and determine the total Sustainability score of a building:

1. Location and Transport:?This relates to the relationship between buildings, their occupants, the community, the infrastructure, and the quality of life the facilities provide.
2. Sustainable Site:?This involves project site location, restoring previously developed sites, and responsible construction practices, among other related factors.
3. Water Efficiency:?This has to do with the indoor, outdoor, and specialised uses of water, as well as water metering.
4. Energy and Atmosphere:?This involves reducing buildings' energy consumption, increasing on-site and offsite renewable energy sources, eliminating the use of chemicals that degrade the atmosphere and ensuring continuing energy performance.
5. Materials and Resources:?This focuses on making all the building materials as sustainable as possible. In other words, using materials and products with minimal environmental, economic, and social lifecycle impacts.
6. Indoor Environmental Quality:?This encompasses the conditions inside buildings - air quality, lighting, thermal conditions and ergonomics - and their effects on the occupants.
7. Innovation in Design:?This focuses on other environmental benefits achieved on projects beyond those already achieved in the other rating system categories - by incorporating cutting-edge techniques, processes and products into the project's development.
8. Regional Priority:?This focuses on adapting the project to address specific priorities in the project's region.
9. Integrative Process:?This involves maximising opportunities for integrated, cost-effective green design and construction strategies.

There are several other Green Rating Systems, such as EDGE, PEER, WELL, and SITES.

Sustainable Building Design (BIM) Tools

At the heart of Sustainable Design are?Building Energy Modeling (BEM) and Analyses.?These help to analyse energy consumption in buildings - both in their entirety and in each space within the buildings - to establish more energy-efficient alternatives.

One method to evaluate energy consumption and optimisation in buildings is using Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools. Not only can BIM tools aid integrated, sustainable building design with design and operational efficiency, but they also come with energy and performance analysis features.

According to?buildingenergysoftwaretools.com , nearly 200 Building Energy Modeling and Analysis tools are in the market. These are some popular tools:

1. Autodesk Insight:?This tool?aims to help Architects and Engineers achieve sustainability goals with better building energy and environmental performance. Autodesk Insight is available for all Autodesk AEC Collection or Revit subscribers. It integrates with Revit for advanced data simulation and analysis. It is the dashboard for?Autodesk's Green Building Studio, a cloud-based building performance service software for high-performance designs.
2. IESVE (Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment):?This is an architect-friendly product based on the Apache simulation engine. It analyses daylighting, energy use, solar shading, heating and cooling demand, and HVAC performance. All information is delivered as a building energy analysis report with charts and diagrams. IES is available as a plugin for Autodesk Revit, Sketchup and Vectorworks.
3. Cove.Tool:?This is a Smart Building Performance and Energy Modeling platform that offers tools necessary for sustainable data-driven design. The platform's analysis tool integrates Machine Learning to aid Architects, Engineers, and Developers in optimising high-performance design options. Its scope covers facade design, water, glare, solar and climate. Cove.Tool can be used in Revit, Rhino 3D, and Sketchup for analysis.
4. Sefaira?(by Trimble): It provides tools for building performance in easy-to-understand graphics. Its cloud-based platform also allows collaboration as a team to share projects and peer-review results. It is ideal for early-phase analysis and is available as a plugin for Revit and Sketchup.

Sustainable Building Analyses

Diverse analyses can be performed on the 3D (BIM) models of facilities during design.

• Such tools as Autodesk Insight, Cove.tool, IESVE, and Sefaira can be used for Conceptual and Advanced Energy Analysis.
• 3D Modeling tools like Revit can perform such analyses as Systems (conceptual HVAC) Analysis, Lighting and Solar Analysis, etc.
• Life Cycle Assessment should also start from the design stage. Such tools as Autodesk Insight - Tech Preview can be used to analyse Embodied Carbon.

These analyses will help ensure the project's sustainability goals are met and can provide quantifiable metrics. I covered all these in my latest course: BIM for Sustainable Design and Green Buildings.

• The course focuses on Sustainable Design techniques during the early design stages of buildings and is tailored around Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements.
• It shows how to use Autodesk Revit, FormIt, and Insight to create conceptual designs, perform Solar, Lighting, and Systems Analyses, configure energy settings, carry out Conceptual Analyses, Carbon Analysis, and more.

You can use the link to access the course for free for up to 24 hours.