BEST

Directory

Building Energy Software Tools
Formerly hosted by US Dept. of Energy    

Autodesk Green Building Studio

    Ratings
    5
    Reviews 0
    Add to compare

    Green Building Studio® (GBS) is Autodesk’s core whole building energy simulation engine, and powers the energy analysis for Autodesk Insight 360, Autodesk Revit, and Autodesk FormIt 360. Green Building Studio is a flexible cloud-based service that allows you to run building performance simulations to optimize energy efficiency and to work toward carbon neutrality in the early conceptual phase of the design process. GBS will help extend your ability to design high performance buildings at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods.

    FormIt 360 provides a connection to Green Building Studio for conceptual mass forms, while Revit supports energy analysis for both conceptual forms and detailed architectural models. Both tools make make use of automated thermal zoning for conceptual masses, which closely follows industry conventions (ASHRAE).

    Green Building Studio uses the DOE-2.2 simulation engine to calculate energy performance and also creates geometrically accurate input files for EnergyPlus. Key to the integrated interoperability exhibited is the gbXML schema, an open XML schema of the International Alliance of Interoperability's aecXML Group.

    Energy Settings Defaults Allow Reasonable Energy Results with Minimal Inputs
    If a parameter has not been defined in your model, GBS uses a default value in order to generate an energy model with the minimum information needed for a simulation. These intelligent values are appropriate to the building type, size, and location. These defaults are primarily based upon the ASHRAE 90.1, ASHRAE 90.2, ASHRAE 62.1 and CBECS data, and vary with building type, location, size, and number of floors.

    Find the Most Effective Energy Efficiency Measures Very Quickly
    A typical whole building energy analysis looks at over 50 variations of different parameter alternatives in a building, and that can take considerable time to conduct. Green Building Studio tests a variety of building features automatically and, with the Potential Energy Savings chart, provides straightforward guidance on which variations will have the largest impact on energy use. All of these runs are completed in the cloud in about the same amount of time it takes to do one manually!

    Tight Integration with Autodesk Modeling Tools
    Green Building Studio’s tight integration with the Revit modeling environment makes analysis accessible in the tool most architects and engineers use to design new and retrofitted buildings. In Autodesk Revit 2014 and beyond, Revit Energy Analysis seamlessly creates a valid Energy Analytical Models from detailed architectural models, and includes the thermal properties of building elements. Once the simulation is finished you can view and compare the energy and carbon results in the “Results and Compare” window within your model in Revit or Vasari. Based upon the results, you can revise energy settings and parameters within your model, or within the GBS website, and submit additional analyses for your project to move toward a better and more energy efficient design.

    Tools Designed Especially for Simulating Existing Buildings
    You can synchronize historical weather data and utility billing data for an existing building using the Utility Bill Upload Feature and the Green Button Initiative Feature. This makes it easy to compare historical building performance to simulation results, allowing you to calibrate the model of your existing building in order to better evaluate potential energy efficiency measures.

    Faster Downstream Analysis with other Engineering Tools
    Green Building Studio can export files that can be used by eQuest and other analysis tools. It can be an effective way to get geometry from your Revit building information model into other analysis tools, without having to re-create the geometry in those tools.

    More than Whole Building Energy Analysis
    Moreover, Green Building Studio has analyses capabilities, beyond the Whole Building Energy Analysis, using the DOE-2 simulation engine, such as “Carbon Data”, “LEED Daylight”, “Water Use”, “Renewable Energy”, and “Natural Ventilation Potential” to help you move your project toward sustainability.

    Accessing Green Building Studio
    FREE TRIAL - You can register for a free, 30-day trial by logging into the Green Building Studio website.
    Green Building Studio is available as subscription benefit for Autodesk Revit users. Green Building Studio can also be purchased as a stand-alone web service directly through the Green Building Studio e-store. Members of the Education Community can qualify for free access to Green Building Studio.

    Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit Enhancement

    Expertise Required: 

    No expertise is required to use GBS. For Autodesk FormIt 360 model geometry creation no expertise is required. Minimal 3D-CAD/BIM experience is required for model geometry creation with Autodesk Revit (though you need no special training in energy analysis). Energy Modelers can do more in-depth analysis.

    Audience: 

    GBS can be used by architects, engineers, or construction managers. Power-users and energy simulation consultants and researchers can also use the web service to eliminate manual plan "take-offs" and to build geometrically accurate models.

    Input: 

    GBS automatically reads all building geometry data produced by a gbXML-enabled BIM or 3D-CAD program required to perform a thermal simulation analysis. (All other proprietary design data remains secure within the authoring application.) Users may specify additional input parameters to the extent they have been enabled in the BIM/CAD program's GUI. All other simulation variables supplied by the Autodesk Green Building Studio web service may be viewed and edited in other DOE-2.2 or gbXML compatible applications.

    Be sure to see the Insight 360 entry for more information: http://www.buildingenergysoftwaretools.com/software/autodesk-insight-360

    Output: 

    • Customizable charts for
    - Heating Loads
    - Cooling Loads
    - Estimated Energy End Use
    - Energy Cost
    - Dry Bulb Temperature
    - Wind Data
    • Customizable Parametric Studies
    • Annual carbon footprint specific to region and utility mix
    • Renewable energy potential (photovoltaic and wind)
    • Weather data summary and user defined graphics
    • Building and site specific natural ventilation potential
    • US EPA ENERGY STAR
    • Water preliminary analysis for LEED
    • Building summary of construction areas, equipment capacities, etc.
    • gbXML file for import to Trane TRACE 700 or other gbXML-compliant tools
    • DOE-2.2 file for import to eQUEST
    • EnergyPlus IDF file for editing and running in EnergyPlus
    • VRML file
    • Design Review file

    Strengths: 

    Autodesk Green Building Studio reduces time and cost of building design and lifecycle management processes. Major benefits include:
    • Enables hourly whole building energy, carbon and water analyses much earlier in the design process
    • Reduces design and analysis costs, allowing more design options to be explored within budget.
    • Compression of early design time, speeding project time to completion.
    • Accelerates analysis for LEED compliance.

    Country: 
    United States
    Major Capabilities: 
    Whole Building Energy Simulation
    Parametrics and Optimization
    Energy Conservation Measures
    Building Type: 
    Commercial
    Residential
    Multi Family
    Keywords: 
    DOE-2.2
    Language: 
    Spanish
    English
    French
    Portugese
    German
    Italian
    Japanese
    Korean
    Polish
    Russian
    Mandarin
    Platform: 
    Web/Saas
    Pricing: 
    Free for Non-Commercial/Academic Use
    Free To Try
    Help and Support: 
    Free Email Support
    Peer Support Forum
    Last Software Update: 
    14 August 2015
    Last Entry Update: 
    24 September 2018
    Add to compare