Summary:
The main objective of the paper was to prove that the BIM (Building Information Model) integrated with other software for energy analysis and CO2 emissions of buildings could lead to a comprehensive and successful LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) study. The authors claimed that using BIM would save much time and effort when conducting LCA studies. They also addressed a research question of how the life cycle of buildings could be significantly affected by changes in the design configurations. The authors applied their analysis on a university building (3 Floors – 1 Basement) with initial cost of 8.7 million $.LCA analysis will contain the resulting CO2 emissions and energy consumptions throughout the project life cycle in addition to the environmental impact of each construction material used in the project. The paper will also present a sensitivity analysis showing how different design configurations could highly affect the environmental impact of the projects. The research methodology will be based on a cradle to grave LCA study. The BIM model will be used for modeling and simulations of the building perfomane.Ecotect will be used for energy analysis. Build Carbon Neutral software will be used for calculating CO2 emissions. The authors in this paper concluded that 1) Integrating BIM and Ecotect could be a more convenient way of doing LCA studies. 2) Highest energy consumptions in the building life cycle appear at the operation stage. 3) Sensitivity analysis of impact of design change can be conducted using the combination of Ecotect and BIM model
Analysis:
First of all, I think the authors failed to show the main objective of the paper by concentrating on other points which are not strong enough to support their argument. The authors started by listing the main objectives and research questions they are addressing. Their main objective was to prove that BIM
References: Schlueter, Arno, and Frank Thesseling. "Building information model based energy/energy performance assessment in early design stages." Automation in Construction. (2009): 153-163. RIST, Tobin. "A path to BIM‐based LCA for whole‐buildings." (2011) .