Towards carbon-neutral construction: Integrating BIM and energy analysis for sustainable design decision-making

Abstract

The growing concerns over the high energy consumption of buildings challenge design and construction parties to grow a deeper understanding of sustainable design practices and carbon footprint reduction in construction. With emerging technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its associated tools, it is now possible to analyze various design models and decide on their implications on environmental impacts such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Although these tools are effective in estimating carbon emissions in the project’s design stages, working with several material alternatives throughout the project’s life cycle requires further comprehension of how CO₂ emissions can be diminished with sustainable design decisions. This study presents a comprehensive two-step analysis linking BIM and energy analysis software to compare the impact of conventional versus sustainable design parameters and their implications on CO₂ emissions. The proposed framework includes simulating the energy consumption of commercial building case studies. Using BIM and energy analysis software, design parameters are evaluated from an energy use intensity (EUI) perspective. The implications of using the conventional versus sustainable design are reflected in a range of CO₂ emissions. The second part of the methodology includes a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the real-world case studies with and without sustainable design implications. This methodology will help designers identify the intensity of their design decisions on energy use and carbon emissions throughout the building life cycle. The seamless and user-friendly application of this framework will help design parties expedite decisions during the first stages of their projects.