Exercise 3.2.1: Evaluating the Impact of Material Thermal Properties

In this exercise, students will learn how to:

Specify building materials for wall and roof surfaces in Autodesk^® Green Building Studio^® software as a service (SaaS).
Create design alternatives to evaluate the energy use impact of different wall types
.Analyze and compare building materials choices that affect estimated energy costs.

Figure 3.2.1 - Creating design alternatives to compare potential wall assemblies

Download Unit3_Lesson2_Exercise1_Start.zip: Imperial or Metric
Revit, Autodesk Green Building Studio

Using the classroom unit model analyzed in the tutorial, create design alternatives to explore the energy use impacts of using windows with different U-values.
Create additional design alternatives to explore the impact of using roof assemblies with different R-values.
Analyze the estimates for the different wall, window, and roof alternatives. Then create design alternatives to evaluate the differences between systems combining the worst-performing the best-performing alternatives.

Exercise 3.2.2: Designing for Thermal Comfort

In this exercise, students will learn how to:

Define thermal zones, and specify the number of occupants, time of use, and heating and cooling system properties.
Use the Ecotect Analysis data grid to analyze the thermal comfort of regions within a space.
Estimate the energy resources required to maintain a room’s temperature within the comfort range.
Analyze and comparing the impacts of changing building material properties.
Assess the energy use impact of changing the limits of the comfort range.

Figure 3.2.2 - Analyzing thermal comfort in Ecotect Analysis

Download Unit3_Lesson1_Exercise2_Start.zip: Imperial or Metric
Autodesk Ecotect Analysis

Explore the effect of specifying different window materials on the thermal comfort and resource consumption analyses. Compare these results to the baseline case—the initial materials choices in the Ecotect Analysis model.
Perform similar analyses to test the impact of specifying different roof materials. Compare these results to the baseline case.
Investigate the effects of changing the limits of the comfort range specified for the thermal zone. Raise the upper limit of the comfort range (allowing the zone to become warmer before cooling begins). Then run the resource usage analysis and compare the results.
Perform a similar analysis by decreasing the lower limit of the comfort range (allowing the zone to become colder before heating begins) and compare the results.

Figure 3.2.3 - Daily energy use (measured in pounds of CO2) due to heating and cooling to maintain temperatures within the comfort range