Using Simulation for Energy Saving Design Education in Building Construction Programs

Due to global warming, energy resource constraints and the rapid increase in energy consumption in the construction sector, building design with low energy consumption is an undeniable requirement. The first step in this path is the quality assessment of building performance and the calculating energy consumption in the early stages of design which are offered as general concepts in the design courses of the fields of building. Because the amount of interfering factors in improving the performance quality and the building efficiency abound, it is very difficult to consider all of them at the same time; hence the use of computer simulation technology in building design is one of the most effective teaching methods of the quantity assessments of building performance in the fields related to building. Simulation is a process which allows to designers to virtually assess various projects prior to constructing and manufacturing in the real world and analyze and improve it from different aspects. As a result, using the simulation analysis, designers are able to achieve to the major changes in energy consumption by small and reasonable costs in building design and resolve the issues without duplication in the future. In this paper, regarding the impact of simulation in reducing building energy consumption, the use of simulation in building design training is examined. Using a quantitative research method, the capabilities of simulators have been studied in different phases of the design process, and the impact of simulation on the process of design, building performance, energy efficiency, and students’ knowledge in these sectors are investigated. The results of this study show a significant difference between students’ perception of design processes before and after the use of the simulation.