A BIM interoperable process for energy efficiency control in existing buildings

A BIM interop-erable process for energy efficiency control in existing buildings, International Journal of De-As energy costs continue to rise, businesses need smarter energy management strategies. This paper starts with several definitions, then it discusses a method to help define a smart energy efficiency strategy in existing buildings by IT systems without realizing civil works. This method aims to develop an efficient and user-friendly Facility Management process based on Building Information Modelling and Interoperability. The case study is the Politecnico di Torino campus and the objective is to obtain a theoretical model that can be applied to wide typologies of existing buildings in Europe. In the first stage of the current research, software tools were tested and the results are shown to lead to an accurate definition of a digital model of buildings, lighting and HVAC systems that can be used in Facility Management. Preliminary results indicate that there is a possibility of obtaining smart solutions if a holistic approach is clearly defined. 1 Introduction The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive focuses on cutting energy use by 20 per cent by 2020 as a crucial element into achieving climate stabilization. The mandate is clear and must be applied also to building performance. By the use of IT technologies, opportunities exist to improve the energy performance of most existing buildings. Several studies in recent years show that tedious manual data input for building energy performance and consumption simulation diverts time and resources from productive simulation runs, also because of the fact that data defining a building, its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems and its expected pattern of use and operating schedules, is managed by different and non-interoperable software. By utilising Building Information Modelling as a data source and interoperability as format exchange for energy analysis, the data input will be more efficient and the existing data more reusable. Unfortunately, at present the BIM methodology and interoperability are still mostly used by researchers, but not widely by practitioners in building projects and management. The reason is the functional limitation of the available tools, although new software packages are daily booming.