Journal Entry For

Module 7 - Building Envelope Systems

My Building Model Design

Below are some graphics exemplifying the energy efficiency measures captured within my building model thus far.

The above image is an angled view of my building that captures the overall architectural design.

The figure demonstrates a front-view of my building design.

Within my building design, I have incorporated energy efficiency elements such as daylighting, exterior walls with notable thermal properties, curtain walls, shading systems, and a roof to enhance energy conservation.

The building features an open-view design inspired by nature and natural daylight. An exposed, yet enclosed outdoor area is centered within the building to add natural accents of the outdoors.

The academic building was designed in a way that enhances natural daylight via the atrium area, as well as the large windows surrounding the entire building.

The different sized windows complement each other to enhance daylighting.

The roof demonstrates the location of the skylights. The skylights enhance daylighting, which in turn lowers overall energy consumption, and they also enhance mental health benefit by the creation of an outdoor environment.

Revit Energy — Analytical Surfaces — Model

According to the Green Building Studio Energy platform, my building model currently has an electric cost of $0.12/kWh.

Energy Modeling

According to the Insight Energy Modeling tool, my building benchmark comparison is 63.9 kBtu/ft2/yr. In order to achieve a lower EUI, I must modify elements within my building, such as: building orientation, window shading, wall construction, and roof construction.

The following adjustments were made in order to attempt to decrease the EUI:

Building orientation

Adjusting the building orientation did not reflect a change in EUI.

Window Shades — South

Adjusting the South Window Shades to 1/2 window height lowered the overall mean EUI to 62.5 kBtu/ft2/yr.

Wall Construction

Editing the wall construction to R38 wood resulted in a significant drop in mean EUI (58.2 kBtu/ft2/yr).

Roof Construction

Modifying the roof construction elements to R60 resulted in a notable drop in mean EUI — 54.9 kBtu/ft2/yr.

By incorporating these modifications within my building model, it is evident that I must enhance the level of adjustments in order to generate a mean EUI within the ASHRAE 90.1 and Architecture 2030 standards. Here are some additional modifications I have implemented within my building model to further decrease the mean EUI:

Window Shades — North

Adjusting the North Window Shades to 1/2 window height lowered the overall mean EUI to 54.4 kBtu/ft2/yr.

Window Shades — West

Adjusting the West Window Shades to 2/3 window height lowered the overall mean EUI to 53.1 kBtu/ft2/yr.

Window Shades — East

Adjusting the East Window Shades to 2/3 window height lowered the overall mean EUI to 52.0 kBtu/ft2/yr.

Lighting efficiency

The greatest decrease in mean EUI occurs when modifying the lighting efficiency within the building.
By increasing the lighting efficiency to 0.3 W/sf, the mean EUI drops 5.36 52.0 kBtu/ft2/yr, which results in an overall mean EUI of 45.8 kBtu/ft2/yr.

By implementing the measures listed above, my building design results in a mean EUI of 45.8 kBtu/ft2/yr — the mean EUI now meets ASHRAE 90.1 standards. In order to meet the Architecture 2030 standards, further adjustments will need to be implemented to my building design.

Please enter Your Name to link to your Design Journal, and paste a link to your personal folder on ACC in the ACC Folder Link field above.

For 2 Units

Please share your design showing the features of the proposed building envelope, including the locations and characteristics of:

the wall and roof surfaces
the openings/glazed surfaces

windows and/or curtain walls
doors
skylights

any shading or sun control features

For 3 Units

Use your Building Element Model to create an Energy Model.
Submit this Energy Model to the Insight analysis tool to explore how the choices and specifications you’ve made in your Building Element Model affect the predicted energy performance.

Be sure to set the Operating Schedule factor tile to use the BIM value.
Narrow the range of values being considered for the building envelope-related factor tiles to focus on the BIM Model value or better.

Explore how other factors (such as Photovoltaic panel options) can further improve your building performance — by using renewable energy to complement your energy saving envelope features.
Share the results of your Insight optimization:

Include an image of the EUI meter and range indicator after you’ve made your adjustments to show what your current assumptions predict and how much potential there is for additional improvements.
List the key Factor Tile settings that are driving these results.

For 4 Units

Use one of the Daylight Analysis methods demonstrated to assess the daylighting levels available with your proposed building envelope design:
Choose one of these methods:

Option 1: Use the Revit Lighting Analysis extension to produce an Illuminance Map of one of the levels of your proposed design.

Be sure to watch the videos for tips about what you’ll needed to include in your building model for the lighting analysis to produce valid results. For example, you’ll need to place Rooms and Floors.
Paste an image of the resulting Illuminance Map.

Option 2: Use the Revit Cloud Render tool to produce Illuminance Renderings of three key areas in your building model.