Investigating building information model to building energy model data transfer integrity and simulation results

Traditional energy modeling methods are usually time-consuming and labour-intensive, so energy simulation is rarely performed early in building design. If a Building Energy Model (BEM) can be seamlessly generated from a Building Information Modeling (BIM) model, the energy simulation process can be much more efficient and better integrated in design. The concerns about BIM to BEM data transfer integrity and the reliability of simulation results are preventing wider adoption of BIM-based energy simulation. This study aimed to address these two obstacles and increase energy modelers’ confidence in using BIM for energy analysis. Green Building Studio (GBS) was used to simulate energy use and generate eQuest and EnergyPlus input files. Two building types were modeled in Revit with various iterations and BEM input files downloaded from GBS were compared line by line to identify and classify discrepancies. Simulation results from BIM-based and traditional modeling were compared to test reliability and showed unexpectedly good agreement across methods.