BPACS and SimBuild by ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA 2022 in Chicago, USA
Veronika Richter and Maximilian Schildt have presented scientific contributions about geometric building model validation and district life cycle assessment on this year’s Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild (BPACS) in Chicago USA, hosted by ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA. The contribution “Validation of IFC-based Geometric Input for Building Energy Performance Simulation” demonstrates a semi-automated tool for the handling of IFC files. Key functions are the visualised identification and correction of space boundaries, as well as the transformation of IFC files to the EnergyPlus format IDF. The paper “Heuristic Urban-scale Life Cycle Assessment of Districts To Determine Their Carbon Footprints” describes the extension of a simulation tool for the calculation of environmental impacts of buildings on a district scale. Central aspects of the tool are the usage of CityGML files and the identification of carbon-intensive building elements.
The participation in the conference has led to a range of dialogues regarding data interoperability and acquisition, user experiences and standardisation. These exchanges will persist beyond the length of the conference and support the refinement of the presented methods.