new report touts use of technology in sustainable building construction

More architects, engineers, and contractors, among others in the building industry, should use and take advantage of Building Information Modeling, says a new report.

That technology, which is a 3-D process using real-time sensor data, can lead to the construction of more sustainable buildings with input on everything from “energy consumption, through space planning and usage, to building envelope wear and tear.”

The report, 2020 Challenges of the Built Environment, a joint production of the Plymouth, Michigan-based Arbnco building technology company, and the U.S. Green Building Council, also looks at how sustainability can be maintained even once a building is completed.

Building managers, the report contends, can better advance energy programs by having access to the data used to construct their building, allowing them to make adjustments “that fit their occupants and building’s needs.”

Ultimately, to achieve building sustainability, says the report, there needs to be more active partnerships involving “architects, construction entities, facility mangers, energy providers, and the data sensing and application partner.”

The sustainability challenge is all the greater, says the report, in existing structures, noting: “There is little that can be done to change the materials used in the construction process, materials which in themselves are not readily conducive to improving the sustainability of the asset nor to enhancing the wellbeing of its occupants.”
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New structures, however, offer the greatest sustainable opportunities, but only if the interested parties are willing to implement such new technology as Building Information Modeling, which now incidentally allows for testing “numerous scenarios at the architectural design stage.”

​By Garry Boulard

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