Overview
The Energy Feature enables users to estimate the operational energy consumption and associated carbon emissions of a building during the early design phase.
The feature complements embodied carbon calculations by providing visibility into operational energy impacts, allowing users to make more informed design decisions and compare different design alternatives.
Energy calculations are based on predefined regional energy scenarios that represent typical building performance and energy systems for each building type.
The feature is currently available for Norway, Finland, UK and Ireland, using the same energy scenarios as the previous Carbon Designer, with updated energy profiles and resources.
How the Operational Energy Feature works
The Energy Feature leverages information already available within Carbon Designer 3D to estimate operational energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The process follows these steps:
The user starts a Carbon Designer 3D design and selects the reference building and the building type
During the Scope step, an energy scenario (where available) is automatically assigned to the design based on the selected reference building and building type.
3. The assigned scenario contains predefined assumptions for:
Electricity
Primary Heating
Secondary Heating
Cooling
4. The user creates and generates the building design.
5. Carbon Designer 3D calculates:
Annual Energy Demand
Purchased Energy
Operational Carbon Emissions
6. Results are displayed in the Energy Table and in the graph.
7. The user can modify the assigned scenario directly within the Energy Table by:
Adding new energy resources by clicking on “+Add resources”
Adjusting the associated energy assumptions as needed
8. The user can save the design to the project. Energy results are then available within the relevant project query and results section.
Energy scenario availability
Energy scenarios are available only for supported combinations of building types and reference buildings.
When an energy scenario is available, it is automatically assigned during the Scope step based on the selected reference building and building type.
If no energy scenario is available for the selected combination, the Energy section will not be displayed in the Scope step, and operational energy results will not be calculated or shown within the design results.
A new energy table
A dedicated Energy Table is displayed as part of the design results. The table contains the following:
Energy categories
Each scenario contains predefined values for the following energy categories:
Electricity
Primary Heating
Secondary Heating
Cooling
Key Inputs
For each energy categories, the following values are pre-defined:
Resource name
Demand per Area (kWh/m²/year)
Conversion efficiency
Calculations
Annual Energy Demand (kWh) = Heated Floor Area × Demand per Area
Purchased Energy (kWh) = Annual Energy Demand ÷ Conversion Efficiency
Carbon emissions
% of total
Carbon intensity/unit
Supported reference buildings and building types
Regions | Reference buildings | Energy scenarios | Building types |
Norway |
|
| Apartment building, Prison, Retail building, Hotel, General educational building, Sport hall, Offices, Cultural building, Industrial building, School primary, One dwelling, Social welfare building, Hospitals |
Finland |
|
| Apartment building, One dwelling building |
Ireland | Irish reference building | Irish energy scenario | One dwelling building, Offices, Retail building, Hotels, Hospitals, Social welfare building, School primary, General educational building |
UK |
| UK energy scenario | One dwelling building, Apartment building, Offices, Retail building, Hotels, Hospitals |