BIM-based Energy Management for Smart Built Environments

Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides architectural 3D visualisation and a standardised way to share and exchange information about building data. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in using BIM, not only during the construction phase, but also the post-construction phase of day-to-day management of the built facility.

With the emergence of Smart Built Environment technology which embeds most spaces and objects with sensors, building managers are expected to be provided with the added capability of real-time monitoring and control of their building’s energy loads as well as energy resources with the goal of maintaining reliability of the electricity supply and safety operation.

This project explored how BIM can be utilised for day-to-day energy management in future smart built environments, such as smart buildings where real time information objects (e.g. sensors, smart meters) and distributed energy resources (DERs) are deployed.

First, BIM has been extended in the building design phase to provide Material/Device profiling and information exchange interface for sensors, smart meters and DER. This produces an extended BIM file in IFC format (Figure 1) for a house model with real-time information objects (sensors, smart meters, solar panel, and wind power generator) in Revit.

Next, a stand-alone facility management tool has been designed and implemented to provide real-time energy management with simulated data source (Figure 2) in which real-time data are retrieved through the 3D BIM model from a sensor located in the living room. The design of the BIM tool for energy management is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 1. Extending BIM in Revit Figure 2. Real-time BIM implementation Figure 3. BIM-based energy management design

Click here for a short video demonstration.

This work was presented at BBNZ 2014. The presentation slides are available for download here.

Our BBNZ paper was selected for extension to a full journal article that has appeared in the Buildings journal (ESCI indexed), which can be accessed here.

For further information, please contact: Dr. Boon-Chong Seet (boon-chong.seet@aut.ac.nz)