Team DesignBuilder recently received the award for the "Best Innovative Workflow" at the ASHRAE Energy Modeling Conference "LowDown Showdown" competition. We'd like to show you the optimisation tools and techniques used by the team that brought something a little different to the competition in a live webinar on 19th November.
Register for your free place on the webinar
ASHRAE's requirement was to design a medium size net zero energy (or below) office building. Although cost wasn't part of the competition brief it is an important constraint in most projects so the team decided on a 3-step advanced cost-benefit analysis approach using DesignBuilder's optimisation capability.
DesignBuilder Optimisation uses a genetic algorithm which mimics the "survival of the fittest" principle of natural evolution to efficiently identify the best combination of design variables such as orientation, insulation, glazing, lighting and HVAC. This makes it possible to find optimum solutions much more quickly than traditional methods, providing the design team and client with an added level of confidence that all viable solutions have been identified.
This webinar will explain the 3-step optimisation process and show the tools used: (1) optimising the building form to minimise heating and cooling loads (fabric first approach); (2) optimising the HVAC and lighting systems etc. to meet those loads; (3) fine-tuning the design including optimising the set-point and set-back temperatures and optimising the PV design via interoperability with other tools such as Grasshopper.
Using DesignBuilder Optimisation, which is unique amongst mainstream software tools, enabled the team to identify the optimum net-zero solution and also to quantify the cost-benefit of higher and lower performing solutions. Rather than offering the client a single solution or small range of solutions the team were able to pose the question to the client "how low do you want to go and at what cost".
If you'd like to find out more about the process of designing our net-zero building and how optimisation can be used in mainstream modelling please register for your free place on the webinar
The webinar will be recorded so please also register to access the recording.
With best wishes,
David Cocking MSc CEng MCIBSE MASHRAE
Director I T: +44 (0)1453 755500 I E: david.cocking at designbuilder.co.uk
DesignBuilder Software Ltd I 1st Floor, Clarendon Court I 54-56 London Rd I Stroud I GL5 2AD
W: www.designbuilder.co.uk
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