Oct 21 2009
Customized Environmental Performance Analysis Provides Specific Output to Help Create Sustainable Designs
Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), a provider of integrated performance analysis software for sustainable building design, today announced MCW Consultants Ltd. has selected its IES for use on three projects. With direct plug-ins to Autodesk Revit and Google SketchUp™, IES’ software tools provide MCW Consultants Ltd. customized environmental performance analysis for fast, easy-to-implement, sustainable engineering and design.
The first project is a new 230,000 ft2 speculative office tower which is targeting LEED Gold certification. On this project, MCW Consultants Ltd. is using IES to perform LEED energy modelling and evaluate design options. In the early stages, IES’ energy model was used to advise the architect on their envelope design based on energy consumption and peak loads. The same model is now being used to evaluate HVAC equipment. It will also be used for the LEED submission to the U.S. Green Building Council.
The second project is a major renovation of an existing senior citizens facility. The building systems are being redesigned/upgraded to make the building at least 40 percent more energy-efficient than the Canadian Model National Energy Code for Buildings. MCW Consultants Ltd. is using IES to size the equipment and evaluate the energy performance during the design stage. This building will feature many unique systems, including ground source heat pumps, heat recovery, superior building envelope components and low wattage lighting.
The third project is an education centre and animal hospital, which is an existing LEED Gold building. MCW Consultants Ltd. has used IES to size equipment for energy retrofits and upgrades, such as a ground source heat exchanger and changes in building operation. The model geometry was created in Revit and imported via gbXML.
“We selected IES as part of an overall shift toward Building Information Modelling (BIM),” said Brian Tysoe, M.Sc., LEED AP and Building Simulation Specialist for MCW Consultants Ltd. “The established methodology of performing manual takeoffs to do load calculations with one program, and energy modelling with another program is extremely time consuming and repetitive. IES allows us to use a common model for both of these tasks, and the interoperability of IES with SketchUp and Revit allows for a more iterative process, where we can get involved in design at an earlier stage of the project.”
MCW Consultants Ltd. is using a range of IES solutions on these projects, including ApacheSim, ApacheLoads, ApacheHVAC, RadianceIES and MicroFlo. ApacheSim to perform hour-by-hour simulation; ApacheLoads to size equipment; ApacheHVAC to create detailed HVAC network models; RadianceIES to produce high quality, photorealistic images of the buildings and analyze daylight levels; MicroFlo to visualize air movement and temperature stratification; and Apache Constructions Database Manager to evaluate condensation in exterior wall constructions.
“Our software tools enable designers and engineers to customize their analysis, providing them with specific output to fit their needs and identify solutions for the questions they are investigating,” said Kevin Settlemyre, president of IES North America. “Combined with the integration directly with Revit and SketchUp, MCW Consultants Ltd. is able to make and evaluate changes throughout the process. We are providing them with the tools to design high performance buildings in a shorter period of time, while assisting to facilitate an integrated design process and on into operations.”
Source: https://www.iesve.com/