BIM to BEM: Development of integrated workflow from Archicad to Energy Evaluation

Abstract: Buildings are one of the main contributors to climate change as they consume a significant part of the total energy produced. The reduction of the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the buildings is vitally important for our environment. Building performance simulations (BPS) play an important role when it comes to energy-efficient building design. There are various BPS tools on the market today, and they are used for building design optimization at all stages of the design process. The most energy savings can be achieved during the preliminary design phase. Energy performance simulations can often be ignored during this phase for several reasons such as insufficient knowledge of simulation know-how, absence of detailed pieces of information about the loads and HVAC systems and interoperability challenges, which emerge during Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Building Energy Modeling (BEM) integration. Nowadays, interoperability between BIM and BPS tools is characterized by data clashes and losses during translation. In these circumstances, the given study analyzes current interoperability challenges by evaluating the shortcomings of the translation process using three typical BIM to BEM workflows. Workflows include one BIM and three different BPS tools and evaluations are based on three case studies. The results show that a promising solution to current BIM to BEM challenges can be the development of the BIM-integrated BEM tools, which today are often underrated due to their simplicity and limits.