Event Description

Architects and building designers will learn how timely design simulations can have a critical impact on building performance.

Energy efficiency in the building sector is the most cost-effective path to reduce anthropogenic carbon emissions and combat the climate crisis. The energy performance of a building depends primarily on its architectural design. Any mechanical systems (the energy hogs) in a building are there to compensate for the lack of physical comforts that a building is expected to provide by default.

Through energy modeling, a building designer can visualize the occupants’ comfort and delight measured in physical terms such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, and daylighting levels. Energy modelers do not design solutions; they evaluate the impacts of choices made by a designer and recommend alternatives — a thermal break here, thicker insulation there, or shading elsewhere — to improve comfort and avoid risks such as overheating or condensation.

By learning to speak the energy modeling language, a designer can become empowered to plan ahead intelligently, evaluate design iterations with an energy modeler, and collaborate with them to design ideal solutions that improve building performance and improve the occupant experience.

This session will introduce the key energy modeling techniques that a designer must be aware of to make good use of a models’ capabilities, and the inputs and outputs of energy models that can inform intelligent design. Case studies will showcase practical applications.

If you are motivated by the desire to design better, help slow down climate change or because DC is about to introduce the building energy performance standards (BEPS). This is a good time for designers to learn!