Ensuring that a common language of "energy efficiency" is spoken by both building information modeling software used by architects and energy analysis and simulation software used by engineers is the goal of new research funded by ASHRAE.

The project will develop open-source reference models by which developers may test their solutions to interoperability between BIM and energy simulation software. The project will focus on the most common thermal features in buildings assumed to have the greatest impact on energy use, and provide guidelines for describing thermal models extracted from BIM and the rules for extracting those models used in whole building energy analysis applications.

"This research will promote the inclusion of energy efficiency measures in the early design of building model development," said Mark Clayton, Ph.D., principal investigator for the project. "It is expected to greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of energy analysis and allow building designs to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency."

The project is one of 13 approved for funding by ASHRAE at its 2009 Annual Conference, totaling some $1.6 million.

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