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Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2006: 2nd conference of IBPSA-USA

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The MIT Design Advisor - A Fast, Simple Tool for Energy Efficient Building Design

Bryan Urban, Leon Glicksman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Abstract: We present a simplified software tool for architects to assist with early-stage design of energy efficient buildings. Energy consumption in the buildings sector accounts for 25 to 30 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Due to inherent complexity, building modeling tools are often deferred to the later stages of design. In later stages many decisions are already finalized and the opportunities for design improvement are limited, expensive, and harder to implement. By helping designers address efficiency and comfort in the first hours of the design process, significant energy savings can be realized more easily and at reduced cost. We provide an overview of the Design Advisor tool (http://designadvisor.mit.edu) including the input parameters, results, and some important modeling information.
Pages: 270 - 276
Paper:
simbuild2006_SB06_270_276