Revit 2014 Release News – New Building Performance Analysis Features

Note: post updated with wikihelp link and demo video

By: Ian Molloy – Product Manager/Product Owner for Revit BPA Features

Today sees the global launch of Revit 2014 and the BPA team is very pleased to inform you that it contains some exciting new capabilities for Building Performance Analysis.

Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit 2014

‘Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit 2014’ is a subscription benefit that provides cloud based whole building energy simulation powered by Autodesk® Green Building Studio® (GBS) run directly from within Revit. Now in addition to using Conceptual Massing elements for Energy Analysis (formerly known as ‘Conceptual Energy Analysis’) Revit 2014 provides a similarly integrated workflow for Energy Analysis using Architectural Building elements i.e. walls, roofs, floors, windows etc. The key aspects of this new feature are:

• Fully automatic creation of an Energy Analytical Model (EAM) using Building elements i.e. identification of discrete analytical spaces, positioning of analytical surfaces and the calculation of areas and volumes.
• Works both with and without Revit Room and/or Space elements. It also overcomes many of the geometric limitations currently associated with these elements e.g. sloped walls, stacked spaces, plenums etc.
• Tolerates many common Revit modeling imperfections e.g. small gaps and overlaps between Building elements do not cause stability or other problems.
• Exports the EAM as Export gbXML for use in DOE2 and EnergyPlus input files for use in 3^rd party analysis applications.

As such this essentially eliminates the need to ‘rebuild’ the Revit model or build an entirely separate model specifically for Energy Analysis. While there are still some limitations in the automatic EAM creation (all of which are documented in Revit’s wikihelp) this generally provides major savings in both the time and skill required to conduct Energy Analysis. This makes it especially valuable at the early stages of the design process when things are evolving rapidly and Energy Analysis can have the greatest impact.

This feature also provides for a range of more advanced Energy Analysis workflows such as the exact specification of Building element material thermal properties, Space Occupancy, Lighting & Equipment and Zone data. Users are also now provided with control over Green Building Studio project creation and selection.

In summary this feature represents a very significant step towards easier, faster BIM based Building Performance Analysis and we will be providing a lot more information on it in future posts so stay tuned.

Demo of Energy Analysis using Building Elements feature in Revit 2014

Below are the links to the Energy Analysis using Building Elements feature help topics

Energy Analysis using Building Elements- Quick Start

Energy Analysis using Building Elements - Detailed Workflow

Energy Analysis using Building Elements - Model Validation

Your Thoughts: As always we’re keen to hear your thoughts. What do you think about this new capability in Revit 2014? Is it something you think you will use? What are your challenges or concerns?

Comments

[Andres Alonso]

Awesome stuff, I want to see in action the fully automated creation of an Energy Analytical Model (EAM) for complex Geometries and how the export capabilities work in softwares like eQuest (.idf or .inp files creation) Keep the hard work, and very excited!! Just one question, what will happen to Project Vasari?
Cheers!

[engr Mirza S]

Irs a good software !
i used it, so nice, learning more.i need a good teacher

[Emile Kfouri]

Andres and Mirza thank you for your enthusiastic response. We look forward to you and all our users working with the new Energy Analytical Model features and providing us feedback. Stay tuned to the blog for more updates.

As for Autodesk Vasari, it is in public beta and we are very pleased with it's popularity in commercial firms and academic institutions, expect more news on Vasari soon.
Regards

[Lauri]

I love Revit and I think this new analysis tool is a great idea! Also it should be great to offer free courses at technical universities to get many people use it.

[Emile Kfouri]

Lauri, we all share your enthusiasm about the new features in Revit 2014. I agree that it is important to help university students learn and use Building Performance Analysis tools like Revit and GBS. We have an excellent site dedicated to the topic at http://sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com/
Once Revit is released and you have had a chance to try it out, please come back and tell us what you think of it.
Regards,
Emile