Early design decision-making framework based on multi-objective building performance simulation incorporating energy, carbon footprint and cost

Abstract

Given the substantial energy and carbon footprint of buildings world wide , building simulation technology continually strives to facilitate high-performance designs, yet many simulation tools info rm building construction only after major design decisions have been made. Alternatively , early design simulation tools help design teams embed energy and environmental performance into the core design. This paper presents an EnergyPlus-based early design decision-making framework for building simulation that when furnished with basic inputs generates design options that can be filtered by energy performance, carbon footprint, and cost criteria. The frame work is used to inform the design of hypotheticaleight-story office buildings in Washington D.C. and Phoenix, A Z , USA. This framework aims to assist architects in developing and refining high-performance preliminary designs based on their project and budgetary constraints.