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BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING AND GIS. CONTEXT. EXPECTED ... the potential of on-site renewable solar energy that differs from traditional methods ...
ON-SITE RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL EVALUATION USING BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING AND GIS D. Luong and J. McArthur

CONTEXT The research project is aimed to become a supportive tool for a global initiative set out by public and private sectors called the 2030 District (2). Toronto itself has committed itself towards this push for sustainable development. This initiative aims to create a district within the economic heart of the city that consists of high-performance buildings, ultimately achieving more efficient and sustainable development (2). The goal is to reduce the district-wide emissions by half and produce zero-emissions from new developments by 2030 (2). To achieve these goals, there is an effort by CERT to map, visualize, and evaluate energy conservation, renewable energy generation and storage, and micro-grid/”smart grid” opportunities at the district scale. In support of this effort, a tool must be developed to monitor and show the effectiveness of harvesting solar energy. By producing real values, it is to encourage interest and promote action in adopting solar harvesting in existing and upcoming buildings. The research project aims to produce a methodology to analyze the potential of on-site renewable solar energy that differs from traditional methods by integrating the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).

CAMPUS 1 RYERSON UNOCCUPIED ROOFTOP AREAS UNOCCUPIED ROOFTOP AREAS EXISTING PHOTOVOLTAICS

The project supports the larger initiative of the Toronto 2030 district, in which, the Ryerson University Campus is used as a specific case study. By using Ryerson University, a campus that contributes to about 2% of 2030 District, the aim is to produce a real case scenario where a feasibility study can be carried out. The feasibility study will focus on the potential of renewable energy generation through solar harvesting on the available rooftops of Ryerson’s existing buildings.

EXISTING PVs

OBJECTIVE To assess the viability of renewable energy and generation and storage on-site, a tool must be developed. Currently, there are existing methods of estimating the potential of solar harvesting on-site; however, they make a lot of assumptions which lead to inaccuracies in the results. The process is to involve the use of BIM to extract relevant information that will be used to determine the potential of on-site renewable solar energy generation. The final results from the BIM methodology will be compared to traditional methods of estimation (Ex. RETSCREEN and energy simulation software).

2 ANALYSIS DEVELOPING METHODOLOGY

APPROACH The main areas of research in this project are to see the viability of onsite renewable solar energy generation which prompts a feasibility study of the Ryerson Campus. In addition, the methods of the feasibility study shall consists of two methods, one using the traditional estimation tools (i.e. RETSCREEN) and the other that integrates BIM. The project aims to develop a new methodology that integrates BIM as an estimation tool for solar potential, and in doing so, a feasibility study of the Ryerson Campus will be completed through the process. For this study, fixed PV panels are being used. The methodology is as follows: 1. Extract areas of unpopulated roof of Ryerson University’s buildings to determine the available rooftop for PV panels. 2. Obtain solar radiation data from digital sources (Natural Resources Canada) to determine the amount of radiation striking the rooftop surface (1). 3. Calculate photovoltaic potential using RETSCREEN which represents the traditional method of calculating photovoltaic potential. 4. Input the CAD drawings of the roof plans into a BIM model. Use Green Building Studio (Revit extension) to run solar shading simulations within the campus model. This will determine the unshaded areas of the rooftops. 5. Use DYNAMO, another Revit add-in, to extract the areas and relevant information (i.e. elevation, coordinates, etc.) of the unshaded rooftop areas and input into a central database (ties in with Daniel’s work). 6. Compare the results from the BIM methodology with the RETSCREEN results and sanity check the numbers with GIS data or site surveys.

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RETSCREEN

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90m

N

BIM (REVIT) RETSCREEN

CAMPUS 3 RYERSON SOLAR ENERGY POTENTIAL (JULY)

0 kWh / DAY

4500 kWh / DAY

EXISTING PHOTOVOLTAICS

EXPECTED OUTCOMES Through this study, the BIM methodology would provide for a more accurate PV gain analysis with the possibility of determining how much solar energy is obtained from a day to day basis, or even an hourly basis. Using the solar simulations within BIM, the specifics about the solar gain of each specific building can be determined with any time interval. This tool would offer users an alternative method of potential PV gain, enabling them more accurate results.

EXISTING PVs

RESULTS From extracting the data from the BIM, there would be enough evidence to support an effort by Ryerson to adopt PV panels and place them on the available rooftop areas of each campus building. Furthermore, in comparison to each other, the BIM methodology would provide for a better estimation tool for analyzing potential PV gain as compared to the RETSCREEN approach. This is due to the accurate daylight simulation provided by BIM as well as the ability to choose which time intervals to view in terms of solar gain per unit time.

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30

60

90m

N

Simulated results

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

This research is funded through Ryerson Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science Undergraduate Research Experience, and Mitacs Globalink.

(1) Engineering Climate Datasets. (2015, November 2). Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://climate.weather. gc.ca/prods_servs/engineering_e.html (2) Toronto 2030 District. (2016). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.2030districts.org/toronto