Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Akonovia, a consultant company specialized in building energy efficiency, helps design teams and owners tox000D
reduce building lifecycle costs. Akonovia (formerly Simulead) has been the first company in Quebec to carryx000D
out mandates of energy simulation using BIM (Building Information Modeling). Designing mechanical andx000D
architectural systems during the conceptual and schematic design stages is normally limited to qualitative (andx000D
sometimes, high-level quantitative) evaluation of available alternatives. According to the Akonovia experts'x000D
experience, energy simulations are currently mostly performed when the preferable design is selected (mostlyx000D
by relying on the engineering experience). This project, however, develops a robust decision support system byx000D
combining building energy simulation with economic analyses to provide a quantitative support to data-drivenx000D
decision making in schematic and conceptual design phases. Several recent studies in Canada and elsewherex000D
have highlighted the benefits of coupling economic analyses with energy simulation, to decrease the energyx000D
consumption and lifecycle costs. Optimizing the lifecycle performance requires taking actions as early as inx000D
conceptualization steps of the building design. Decisions made at the early design phases of buildings,x000D
normally tend to commit considerable costs (or savings) that will be incurred at later phases of the lifecycle andx000D
have the greatest level of impact on the lifecycle costs and benefits. On the foundation of the state-of-the-art ofx000D
BIM, open source technologies, and economic analytics, this Engage Grant supports development of ax000D
cloud-based decision support system which combines energy simulation with economic analyses forx000D
quantitative analysis of building lifecycle performance, at early stages of building conceptualization. The futurex000D
collaboration between the research team at Concordia University and Akonovia, as the industry partner, canx000D
extended the decision support system to be integrated with IoT (Internet of Things) and provide a tool forx000D
controlling the energy consumption behavior of the built facility, and also to enrich the system's database forx000D
more accurate analyses and forecasts in new designs.