Software models buildings' energy use

The application, Design Advisor, has been available online for about five years but has recently received its most significant upgrade.

Previously the software would only analyse an individual floor of a building, but a new component adds an analysis of the roof as well.

Now the resulting information gives a relatively complete picture of the entire building’s likely energy needs and performance, as well as the comfort of its occupants in different parts of a room, at different times of the day and in different seasons.

While many architectural firms use sophisticated software to perform more detailed analyses of buildings they design, these programs require more extensive training and take longer to use.

Comparisons Glicksman’s team made between the leading programs and Design Advisor have shown good correlation in the results produced, to within about 10 per cent.

Detailed charts of these comparisons are available on the Design Advisor website so that users can evaluate the accuracy for themselves.