bldgsim

In the United States, a house built to the Passive House standard results in a building that requires space heating energy of 1 BTU per square foot per heating degree day, compared with about 5 to 15 BTUs per square foot per heating degree day for a similar building built to meet the 2003 Model Energy Efficiency Code. This is between 75 and 95% less energy for space heating and cooling than current new buildings that meet today’s US energy efficiency codes.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house)

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP)
is a clearly structured design tool that can be used directly by architects and designers.
Does energy-conscious design require sophisticated simulations?
This was indeed the case for the first Passive Houses that were completed in 1991. Calculating the energy balance of buildings with very low energy consumption is a demanding task - existing regulations, standards and prestandards lack the required precision. Nevertheless, we have identified the critical factors for preparing reliable balances - with tools that are simple to use and with acceptable effort in terms of data input.
(from the Passivhaus Institut: http://www.passiv.de/07_eng/phpp/PHPP2007.htm,
find sources to order an English version at the bottom of the page,
find a free simplified version here, in German only)

What’s the true definition of “green” buildings and sustainability – and how does the “green” movement impact appraisals and the valuation process? Tune in as Theddi Wright Chappell, MAI, shares her expertise on green buildings and highlights the latest developments affecting real estate appraisers. 13:51 |
Listen Now

(from the Appraisal Institute)

Could Skyscrapers supply food?
See how the vision of vertical farming might work.

The WebUrbanist has great coverage on 5 Design Proposals for 3D City Farms.

Find more in depth information as well at the The Vertical Farm Project website and at Wikipedia.

Concept from Paris-based Pierre Sartoux

2008, April 19th, Sofia - Chaos Software announced the immediate availability of the next version of V-Ray - 1.50.SP2 (1.50 service pack 2)

You can download the new version in the usual manner by going to the ChaosGroup website and logging in with your support account.

The V-Ray 1.5 Service Pack 2 is now compatible with Autodesk® 3ds Max 2009® and Autodesk® 3ds Max Design 2009®.

The update also includes several new features, for example VRayIES photometric light; VRaySimbiontMtl material for direct rendering of DarkTree materials; VRayShadowMap shadow generator for standard light for reduction of flickering of VRayFur; the VRay_ExtraTex render element for generating ambient occlusion passes, UVW channel passes etc. There are many modifications and improvements of existing features. The complete list with all details can be found in the changelog file, part of the installation and customers can be also referred to the information provided in the V-Ray help index.

Air Quality Index (AQI) forecasts and current conditions (for USA) are available in Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format at the EPA website. Download and open this data layer in Google Earth.

Terradex publishes a realtime air quality monitoring layer displayed on Google Earth as well. The service was recently awarded an Environmental Achievement Award by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This layer covers the USA, UK and Hongkong, China and Mexico. Find out more from Google Lat Long Blog.

The Company Agilewaves has developed the Resource Monitor, which continuously measures electric, gas and water consumption of a home or business, calculates its carbon footprint in real-time and makes this information readily available on a wall-mounted touchscreen or web page.

Residential and commercial buildings account for 40% of the U.S. energy market. People and businesses want to conserve. The Resource Monitor helps users make smart resource consumption choices and proves that conservation efforts make a tangible difference.

(Pictures and Text from Agilewaves)

Chaos Group has posted a few new videos showing their realtime rendering used as an active shade renderer in 3ds max.

“The technology is based on a highly optimized raytracing core and is capable of generating fully raytraced images with global illumination at the fraction of the time required for normal rendering. At the same time, all the complexity of V-Ray materials and lights is supported for an accurate preview of the final rendering.”

Use the vast amount of 3d models from Google’s 3D Warehouse site within Revit.

Here is how

Ever heard about the UK BREEAM system or the German Building Passport and want to compare them to the LEED rating system approach?

Here is an international Survey of Life-Cycle Assessment Tools, Assessment Frameworks, Rating Systems,Technical Guidelines, Catalogues, Checklists and Certificates. It is not the most up-to-date information (final revisions 2004) but it’s a good start to do some research.

This Annex 31 Tools Directory is designed to complement the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Bulding Energy Software Tools Directory mentioned in this earlier post.

Improving the environmental performance of buildings and building stocks is best accomplished using tools as decision-making aids. Many countries now have a variety of tools that have been tailored for use by specific users and to fill particular analytical needs.The purpose of this survey is to provide a quick overview of the tools that are currently available or that are soon to be released. Each tool is described in terms of its functions, audience, users, software application and technical support, data requirements, strengths, availability and contact information.

Find out more on www.greenbuilding.ca and click on “Downloand PDF document”

The Energy Design Plugin, created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy has been put online as a beta release.

This free EnergyPlus plug-in will integrate building simulation functionality into the Google’s SketchUp drawing environment. The plug-in stores EnergyPlus input data on SketchUp surfaces as they are drawn by the user. An EnergyPlus toolbar provides a way to create zones and surfaces with only a few mouse clicks. Construction assignments are ‘painted’ onto surfaces using a palette of EnergyPlus wall, roof, and window constructions. Users will be able to execute an annual simulation from within SketchUp. Watch the EnergyPlus web site http://www.energyplus.gov for more information.

This plugin is compatible with both the Free and the Pro versions of Google SketchUp 6. A version for Mac OS X is not currently available, but is under development.