Interactive Digital Model of Assessing Energy Efficiency of Buildings

Abstract

The issues of enhancement of energy efficiency of buildings acquire the ever-greater significance in the recent decades, since a demand for utilization of alternative energy sources and reduction of energy consumption as a whole increases with acceleration of urbanization process and depletion of reserves of natural energy resources. This article gives consideration to the basic methods of digital modeling of energy efficiency of buildings and offers an interactive digital model for assessing energy efficiency developed on the basis of joint use of virtual reality means and BIM model of construction object. The digital model performs heat-balance calculations, finds a necessary quantity of energy for heating as well as calculates efficiency of utilization of alternative energy sources such as solar cell panels and wind turbines. The user of this model is granted a chance of independent selection of average temperature in the future object that is especially important for residential buildings. At that, it is not necessary for the user to possess any special knowledge owing to a simple and intuitive interface. Working with the digital model a user has a chance to freely move, perform manipulations with the specified set of energy sources as well as interact with light sources and change the interior by means of virtual reality capabilities in real-time mode. Keywords—BIM, energy efficiency of a building, digital model, VR, VDC, Unreal Engine, rendering in real-time mode