Energy and Cost Analysis of Building Envelope Components Using BIM: A Systematic Approach

Abstract

The selection of cost-effective components of the building envelope plays a significant role in a sustainable building design solution. Therefore, in terms of effective decision-making, it is important to have a complete insight into construction and running costs throughout the lifespan of the building. A systematic building information modelling (BIM) approach as a new trend in the innovative approaches in the construction (AECO) industry provides appropriate support for improvement of environmental assessments. Our study presents a new approach to automated/semi-automated comprehensive energy and the whole life-cycle cost analysis of building envelope components using BIM, and, as such, it represents a novelty for Advanced Construction Project Management. It focuses on the sequence of steps required for evaluation of energy and economic assessment, from the basic 3D BIM model, through the energy and cost analysis, to the final evaluation and decision-making. The energy balance was calculated with dynamic simulation, the results of which formed the basis for the cost analysis. Economic assessment of construction and operating costs was performed by implementation of the cost-optimal methodology. Our proposed approach contributes to the environmental assessment of building envelope components throughout the life cycle and includes the economic valuation. The applicability of the systematic approach in our case study considered 24 different variants of building envelope components at three different U-values, namely U0 = 0.28 W/m2K for external wall, U0 = 0.20 W/m2K for roof, U1 = 0.15 W/m2K and U2 = 0.10 W/m2K. Sophisticated project BIM management software was used for the economic evaluation of all elements of the life-cycle costs (LCC). In summary, the main contribution of this approach is provision of a comprehensive and simple insight into all costs in a transparent way, because a 5D BIM model allows for optimal decision-making on appropriate energy and cost-efficient envelope components.