As if the universe was listening to me...after posting about wanting a way for Revit to help me decide what sort of energy optimization design moves to make, I stumbled upon a webcast that happened today about that very thing.
The answer might have been predicted: Yes, and No. Yes, there's a way to see the effects of a light shelf. No, it's not within Revit.
There's two other wonderful tools needed for useful modeling and reporting:
Green Building Studio and Ecotect. Both of these are from Autodesk, and both work well with the models that Revit produces.
In the webcast, staff showed how Green Building Studio can produce a detailed report on an "eggshell model" of an existing building, complete with estimated costs and payback periods! And then, without making changes to the model, calculate the effects of various improvements. Examples included a under-floor heating/cooling system and a rainscreen.
Ecotect was even more detailed in its investigation potential. With this tool, one area of the building was isolated, cut into wireframe section, and various light shelves were calculated for optimum size and location. These shelves then were assigned reflective values and the resulting sunshine vectors were hugely illuminating, pun intended!
The webcast should be posted onto this archive of past webcasts in this series; I intend to watch the others, too.
Places to find continuing ed:
Online Continuing Education: Revit Architecture, Creating and Modifying Schedules
Online Continuing Education: Bridging Environmental & Architectural Design to Nurture Renewability
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