Sustainability evaluation for early design (SEED) framework for energy use, embodied carbon, cost, and daylighting assessment

ABSTRACT

Given climate change and rapid global development, buildings must meet increasingly stringent environmental performance goals. Although numerous building simulation software assess energy performance, few inform the early stages of design when critical decisions impacting energy use and carbon footprint are made. Underrepresented early design simulation software could potentially significantly improve the environmental performance of buildings. This paper presents the SEED Framework for multi-objective early design decision-making that utilizes EnergyPlus-based building energy, structural finite element analysis, and Radiance-based daylighting simulations. When furnished with basic inputs, the SEED Framework generates numerous design options ranked by energy use, embodied carbon, construction cost, and daylighting metrics. A case study of a hypothetical mid-sized office building modelled in the Boston, Washington D.C., and Phoenix, USA climates demonstrates how the framework can guide decisions throughout pre- and schematic design phases. This framework aims to assist architects in designing high performance buildings within project and budgetary constraints.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Early design
• energy modelling
• embodied carbon
• construction cost
• daylighting
• structural analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability for funding this research and Zoe DeSimone for her assistance in collecting data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

Note: Light pink fills indicate decently performing options that exceed an equal fraction of combinations, dark pink fills indicate high performance options that far exceed an equal fraction.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.