Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm

Date: April 15, 2010

Location: Kasian Office (Map + Address click here)

Nathan Shuttleworth from Busby Perkins+Will will be presenting his experiences on using Ecotect and Radiance for daylighting analysis.

Date: February 10, 2010

Location: Kasian Office (Map + Address click here)

1. Nathaniel will guide us step by step through using Revit 2010 with the Green Building Studio web service from Autodesk. Green Building Studio is a web-based energy analysis service that can help architects and designers perform whole building analysis, optimize energy efficiency, and work toward carbon neutrality earlier in the design process. Green Building Studio is part of the Ecotect subscription license.
2. We will be discussing the recent developments on “Common Carbon Metrics” that the global alliance of Green Building Organizations initiated and agreed upon at their conference in November 2009. The metric is recognized by the UNEP Sustainable Building and Climate Initiative, and was highlighted before decision-makers at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December. These common metrics will eventually enable us to easily benchmark our designs against projects around the world. By looking at administrative buildings, hospitals and residences we want to find out what the status of energy intensity is today in different countries around the world so we will be able to compare them to our designs.

Date: December 2, 2009

Location: Kasian Office (Map + Address click here)

We will be looking at Thermal Simulation for the conceptual design phase and how we can efficiently use Revit as a modelling tool to compare many iterations of options in Ecotect and IES regarding their energy intensity and carbon footprint. Right now we are looking to find the best and most practical workflow that allows to use the same model as a source for energy and daylight modelling with IES as well as Ecotect:

1. Modeling and managing multiple design options efficiently in Revit
2. Exporting Geometry using gbXML format
3. Analysing building design options using Ecotect Thermal Module
4. In depth review of Ecotect Thermal Calculation Methods
5. Analysing building design options using the IES VE Ware Add-In directly from within Revit

Date: September 16, 2009

Location: Kasian Office (Map + Address click here)

1. Jody-Lee will be exploring the thermal module of Ecotect. The software will be used to investigate the climate responsiveness and overall thermal performance for a building, determining internal temperatures, spatial comfort and heating and cooling loads. The exercise will be broken down into four studies: Temperature Profile, Heating and Cooling Loads, Passive Solar, Thermal Mass.

1. Francois will be following up on his last presentation about daylight analysis; “I will continue on this.  I will explain how to customize material, how to arrive at accurate results with Radiance and Ecotect and what parameters we should use for LEED Canada daylight credit.  It is all base on my experience with the latest project I am working on and the advice from our consultants”.

This time we will discuss and trial a workflow for early schematic design using Revit. A potential benefit of this workflow is using the design model that is done anyways and leveraging the inherent analysis model without rebuilding it again. This kind of workflow can help iterating an architectural design from early massing studies towards a more sustainable building by just optimizing site, orientation, shape, and aperture. Because: We want to go after the low hanging fruits very early on during the first projects phases where potential energy saving gains could be up to 60% as opposed to the somewhat 15% you are chasing in later phases of the project with your HVAC / climate engineers. Achieving these energy savings with low tech solutions early on also allows for cost effective implementation.

Kazusa will introduce IES Virtual Environment which is building performance analysis software that plugs in directly into Revit (and as well SketchUp). As well we want to try to import that analytical model into Ecotect using gbXML.

Date: March 18, 2009

Location: Kasian Office (Map + Address click here)

These are the links Francois mentioned during his talk (+ some more); Jody Lee’s PowerPoint file will be posted via the file box to the right:

Climate Data

• http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_data.cfm (Weather data, EPW files)
• http://www.weatherbase.com (Weather data base used for temperature and relative humidity)
• http://www.theweathernetwork.com (Weather data base used for precipitation)
• http://www.meteonorm.com (commercial Global Meteorological Database for Engineers, Planners and Education
• http://gard.com/weather/index.htm (Building Simulation Weather Data Resources)

Ecozone Information

• http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions.htm (Ecoregion,  big map)
• http://www.ec.gc.ca/soer-ree/English/Framework/Nardesc/canada_e.cfm (Ecozone in Canada with the text describing the region)

Tools

• http://susdesign.com/tools.php (Tool used calculate the sun angle)
• http://www2.aud.ucla.edu/energy-design-tools (Climate Consultant 4; amongst other tools)

Date: February 11, 2009

Location: Kasian Office

Date: January 14, 2009

Location: Kasian Office