A new version of Autodesk Green Building Studio has gone live. Version 4.2 has a nicer user interface as well as new weather data for more parts of the globe (Central and South America, the Caribbean, Indonesio and eht Southwest Pacific, the Middle East and Africa have been added). The GBS weather data now covers most of the World.
“Employing the latest in energy management software technology, BC Hydro with the energy tracking software tracks, analyzes and reports on real-time energy consumption from the venue sites in order to see energy and green house gas savings and set benchmarks from which similar venues can compare themselves to.”
The information is available online at VenueEnergyTracker.com
This is an interesting example of measurement and verification taken public, even though the information provided is pretty shallow and the advertised savings for most venues shown hover around 10% better than the baseline; which isn’t really that much of a success story (exception: Athletes Village Community Centre).
Energy management software company Pulse Energy developed an energy-monitoring system to make the Olympic Games in Vancouver more efficient. This demo is a teaser for their powerful real-time energy management tool for buildings.
EneryPlus is one of the most sophisticated energy analysis tools available and Revit has become somewhat of a standard for the AEC industry at least in North America and Oceania it seems like a natural fit ..
See this recent post on openRevit for some in depth instructions on how to use the Revit gbXML export feature via Ecotect with EnergyPlus for thermal simulations and more.
Here is some more fodder for environmental designers on exporting data from Revit to Ecotect Analysis:
A webcast organized by gbxml.org was mentioned earlier on this blog. Now there will be a second free webcast titled “Using Green Building XML (gbXML) for Sustainable Building Design – Part II” on January 21, 2010 at 10:00 to 11:00 am PST.
Presented by gbXML stakeholders, this webcast will demonstrate how tools for Building Information Modeling (BIM) can integrate with various analyses software, using the interoperability of gbXML to help create more sustainable building designs. Presentations and product demos will include the following:
- AutodeskR Revit Architecture, Autodesk Ecotect Analysis and Autodesk Green Building Studio
- Graphisoft with Encina plug-in for gbXML
- IES VE (Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment)
- Trane Trace
Stephen Roth, Administrator of the gbXML Advisory Board and President of Carmelsoft will also discuss the current status of the gbXML and related activities.
For more information and to register please go to www.gbxml.org
I just came across this one, even though the original context was the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen it is not out of date and very informative and entertaining: “The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from whats really required to tackle the climate crisis. If youve heard about Cap & Trade, but arent sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.”
Find out more at www.storyofstuff.com


