ABSTRACT
Global warming has drastically increased the pressure to reduce energy use in buildings as reflected by a stringent regulatory landscape. The construction industry is expected to adopt new methods and strategies to address such requirements primarily focusing on reducing energy demand, improving process efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. The realization of these emerging requirements has been constrained by the highly fragmented nature of the industry, often portrayed as involving a culture of “adversarial relationships”, “risk avoidance”, exacerbated by a “linear workflow”. Recurring problems include low process efficiency, delays and construction waste.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides a unique opportunity to enhance building energy efficiency and open new pathways towards a more digitalised industry and society. BIM is foreseen as a mean to waste and emissions reduction, performance gap minimization, in-use energy enhancements, and total lifecycle assessment. It also targets the whole supply chain related to design, construction as well as management and use of facility, at the different qualifications levels (including blue collar workers).
This paper provides an evaluation of the key criterions and strategies that can promote BIM as an efficacious tool for facilitating energy efficiency. We explore how different use-cases variables influence the impact of BIM on energy efficiency and provide useful insights on how building lifecycle, discipline and buildings types can influence different BIM energy efficiency scenarios.
