# Building Information Modelling and Energy Simulation for Architecture Design
## 5 Modelling and Pre-Analysis of a Simplified Building
### Switching to the Building Energy Model  
Once the BIM model was obtained, the missing information was implemented for the construction of the BEM model. In particular, data related to the project site and its location with related climatic data (air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and analysis of wind speed and direction) were included. The software can download automatically the information from the Strusoft Climate Server. The Strusoft server bases its climate data on those provided by \"Reanalysis NCEP\" available on the website of the \"NOAA-Cires Climate Diagnosis Center\". The information obtained was compared with the climatic data used by the EnergyPlus calculation engine. It is based on the data collection commonly known as \"IGDG--Climatic data [PERSON]\" (2019) (Figure 4). Figure 4: On the left the climatic data obtained from the Strusoft server, on the right the climatic data [PERSON]. Figure 3: Three-dimensional view of the building with the apartment examined in evidence. The comparison shows that the climatic data used by the EcoDesigner STAR calculation engine are in compliance with those used by the EnergyPlus calculation engine, with maximum and minimum temperatures very close to each other:  
Maximum temperature: 36.9 \({}^{\circ}\)C--minimum temperature 4.62 \({}^{\circ}\)C (Strusoft);  
maximum temperature: 34.0 \({}^{\circ}\)C--minimum temperature 4.79 \({}^{\circ}\)C (EnergyPlus). It was supposed that the slight deviations between the monthly temperatures were due to the different time intervals relied on for data collection. In particular, the EnergyPlus data refer to a period ranging from 1951 to 1970; while those of the Strusoft servers are updated from 1948 to today. Then, the areas of the building characterized by the same orientation, by the same usage profile and above all by the same system (thermal blocks) were defined (Figure 5). It was possible to identify only two thermal blocks (Figure 4): that of the heated rooms and that of the unheated rooms. For each block, an operating profile and a plant system (heating, air conditioning, and ventilation) were set. The software includes different operating profiles (residential, commercial activity, hotel, cinema, museum, and others), but it was chosen to have a more complete overview of the program and its potential, to create a new one. As for the most common software, it is possible to select different schedules for different seasons: One for the summer season (for the cooling plant) and one for the winter season (for the heating plant). It is possible to assign several thermal blocks to a single system or to assign a specific one to a single thermal block. In particular, it is possible to set the use of a boiler for heating and the production of domestic hot water to several thermal blocks; while the cooling system is, if made with single units serving only one room at a time, it must be assigned for each air-conditioned block. In this case, there is only a natural gas boiler for heating and the production of domestic hot water. Furthermore, there is no type of summer air conditioning and the ventilation is natural as it is normally the case in common homes. The data relating to the autonomous heating system are very simplified. It is possible to select the nominal power of the element, the type of control (with internal/external sensor or by manual ignition), the type of energy source used, the cost of the energy used, in order to obtain an estimate of the costs and consumption of that particular system. On the other hand, the items relating to terminals are completely missing. Figure 5: Screen of the thermal blocks window with 3D visualization of the selected zones. It is not possible to set the number of terminals and their performance. They can be inserted as elements within the model, but they do not interface with the plug-in during the calculation. For a more accurate analysis, it should be necessary to use an external program that includes these attributes.