Hi, our organisation has become concerned with summer overheating in our social housing stock. Has anyone on the forum used or experimented with BlenderBIM, Blender and/or Topologic for TM59 assessments. I keen to understand if there is a FOSS work for you flow and how to implement it.
Hey Nigel
I am not a Energy specialist at all but I've been following around and I think you can possibly use Ladybug to do your TM59 assessment:
https://discourse.pollination.cloud/t/cibse-tm59-grasshopper-workflow/1696/3
The above is an example in Rhino + grasshopper
Unfortunately I think the link between ladybug and Blenderbim is not very connected at the moment, but separately @topologic has been doing a few energy analysis demonstrations with Topologic lately:
Hi @Nigel
TM59 requires detailed attention to how the energy model is set up and also window opening control. DesignBuilder or Pollination/Ladybug in GH are the best options for now.
Topologic (the Energy module) can be made to do TM59 assessments but it will require a collaboration between a very good energy plus/openstudio expert and myself to create the software, templates, output reports etc. Not trivial and needs good support. I’m up for creating a FOSS alternative if I can get the support (expertise more important than money).
Thanks for the responses @Ace and @topologic .
What's happening in South Africa in relation to quantifying overheating?
I cannot offer any skills to help develop a FOSS tool but I would contribute to a fund if that might intice an expert to work on the project.
@Nigel said:
Thanks for the responses @Ace and @topologic .
What's happening in South Africa in relation to quantifying overheating?
I cannot offer any skills to help develop a FOSS tool but I would contribute to a fund if that might intice an expert to work on the project.
Like I mentioned I'm not a specialist of any kind* but I'll talk to the overall approach,
Our heating and Cooling, insulation, energy & water use is determined by SANS 10400 XA edition 2, it's trying to strike a balance between performance and what is feasible for people to afford to build, so for instance there is no requirement for a standard assessment like TM59, but there is an equivalent just looking at R-Values, Ventilation and cube volumes.
For most small scale projects we do manual calculations on the glazing, walls, roofs and floors per window and per elevation. For heating for the most part we have a limit on Glazing area vs Window Opening Area per floor sqm, that is the literal calculation it comes down to.
So for instance If we had social housing stock that was overheating, primarily it would sadly be ignored hahah,
but the assessment would look at Manual calculations for Lighting/Glazing area < 15% of Floor area AND Ventilation/Opening sections > 5% of Floor area, then the R-Values of the facade & roofs to be more than required, sometimes sun shading to avoid additional SHGC, cross ventilation and use of heat stacks as much as possible in each habitable space. When it comes to Mechanical heating and Cooling, or the use of a fire place there is a calculation around for some reason BTU and the cube volumes it needs to cover. The values differ across the country but I work in the interior mainly where temperatures are very temperate.
Most Architects lean towards passive design principles, because they are more effective, simpler and also better value for money.
For larger buildings the Green star system, and LEED system is used, on top of SANS XA
If you can afford it on your project you get an energy specialist / sustainability consultant in and they use energy modelling & simulation tools like a proprietary equivalent of Ladybug can't think of it now, this firm is one of the biggest energy consultants in SA they talk about their process here:
https://www.solidgreen.co.za/accreditation-modelling-and-simulation-at-solid-green/
Some Architects specialise as 'sustainability Architects' and use the same tools, when this is done above National regulations, it is just called rational design.
A colleague of mine* is very passionate about it, I will try see if they would be interested!
*Who is an energy consultant
@Moult What is the current state of the blenderbim-ladybug integration?
If we run Blenderbim 200929 would the tools used in this video still work?
@Nigel I've spoken to my colleague, turns out she is using Ladybug at work with Rhino!
She doesn't know Blenderbim or Topologic but she says Ladybug is quite flexible, we are going to chat next week about it and a Foss workflow, I know my local University is also introducing a BEM unit to Honours students this semester, so it might be a nice additional option for them
@Ace thank you for such a comprehensive response. Very similar to our building code here in Aotearoa. Our new social housing is built to a HomeStar standard, NZ green building council developed that alongside GreenStar. As the name suggests its for housing
Just spoke to my colleague she is super keen to help she is just a bit busy. She seemed very confident that it wouldn't be difficult to replicate in Blenderbim so We are going to start but trying Blenderbim + Ladybug see how far that goes, and where it falls short compared to the grasshopper workflow, I think you need honeybee to generate the report so that might be where it falls flat. Will let you know as it goes @Nigel
Do you have a deadline or anything for the assessment?
Hi @Ace that's great to hear. There isn't a deadline from my end, important but not urgent :)
Perfect
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