Analyzing the energy analysis tool (The Autodesk Insight 360) of BIM during the early stages of the design process in terms of window factors in a single-family house

Abstract

In designing eco-buildings, windows play a big part in minimizing the energy load. There has not been any easy-to-use software to speed up the process, even after many recent studies about environment-friendly window size, shading, position, and material. Thus, a single-family house with simple geometry in Kvemelto karti, Georgia, was simulated to introduce an alternative method to manage this gap. A building information model (BIM) was devised for this procedure through Autodesk Revit® due to its simplicity, popularity, interoperability and convenience among its users. Not to mention, the energy analysis tool (The Autodesk Insight 360) in Revit (BEM) displays the total energy load while, in this case, focusing on window size, position, material, and shading executed by Autodesk Green Building Studio®. The early energy analysis (the optimum window-to-wall ratio (WWR), the windows’ location in the wall, material, and shading) suggested by BEM does not give enough information to apply in the early stages of design and create a net-zero-energy building. The aim is to show the gap between data-driven from BEM and design strategies and to display the information required to be more detailed. For this purpose, after using Insight 360 (a web-based tool) for investigating window shades, material, and WWR, it has been concluded that there is a need for a more convenient way to automate the process in more depth. They could help to pick a viable widow shading, size, position, and material. Besides, choosing determined factors using just BEM is not practical because detailed characteristics of window factors as determining elements are not defined. This tool has its limitations.

BIM to BEM for Building Energy Analysis: A Review of Interoperability Strategies

“…From a literature search, Autodesk Insight 360, which can be installed as a plugin on Revit, resulted as the most used tool for energy analyses based on the "Real-time connection" interoperability strategy [49,50,59,61,[87][88][89].…”

“…This allowed the authors to consider different design strategies in order to arrive at a more informed and efficient choice. From a literature search, Autodesk Insight 360, which can be installed as a plugin on Revit, resulted as the most used tool for energy analyses based on the "Real-time connection" interoperability strategy [49,50,59,61,[87][88][89].…”

“…In a study by Boloorchi [87], a single-family home in Georgia was modeled in Revit to conduct a thorough fenestration analysis. In detail, the dimensions, position, material, and shading of the windows were studied with Insight 360 to identify the best solutions for building energy savings.…”

“…Therefore, the BIM plugins can be employed for preliminary rather than detailed energy analyses. Among other things, many operations that can be performed with the aforementioned applications are limited and cannot be customized [87]. Insight 360 was also used by Yarramsetty et al [61] to analyze the impact of the building's orientation on its energy consumption.…”

“…Therefore, the BIM plugins can be employed for preliminary rather than detailed energy analyses. Among other things, many operations that can be performed with the aforementioned applications are limited and cannot be customized [87].…”