Energy consumption and carbon emission ofconventional andgreen buildings using building information modelling (BIM)

Abstract

Purpose–Usingbuildinginformationmodelling(BIM)technology,aconventionalstructureinthisstudywas converted into a green building to measure its energy usage and CO2 emissions. Design/methodology/approach– Digital images of the existing building conditions were captured using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and were fed into Meshroom to generate the building’s geometry for 3D parametricmodeldevelopment.Themodelfortheexistingconventionalbuildingwascreatedandconvertedto an energy model and exported to gbXML in Autodesk Revit for a whole building analysis which was carried out in the Green Building Studio (GBS). In the GBS, the conventional building was retrofitted into a green building to explore their energy consumption and CO2 emission. Findings– By comparing the green building model to the conventional building model, the research found that the green building model saved 25% more energy while emitting 46.8% less CO2. Practical implications– The study concluded that green building reduces energy consumption, thereby reducingtheemissionofCO2intotheenvironment.Itisrecommendedthatbuildingsshouldbesimulatedatthe design stage to know their energy consumption and carbon emission performance before construction. Social implications– Occupant satisfaction, operation cost and environmental safety are essential for sustainable or green buildings. Green buildings increase the standard of living and enhance indoor air quality. Originality/value– This investigation aided in a pool of information on how to use BIM methodology to retrofit existing conventional buildings into green buildings, showing how green buildings save the environment as compared to conventional buildings.