Intelligent Sustainable Design: Integration of Carbon Accounting and Building Information Modeling

The experience of combining BIM (building information management) and LCA (life-cycle assessment) methods in undergraduate and graduate engineering teaching at Drexel University and the application of commercial BIM and LCA software for teaching sustainable design of buildings is discussed. The students' idea to integrate BIM capabilities with LCA led to a course project in carbon accounting. Revit was used in two capacities, indirectly, by exporting an organized material schedule; and directly, with the use of plug-ins for operational energy use and carbon emissions. The group project allowed students to gain experience using BIM while building a simple carbon footprint. The use of SimaPro promoted a better understanding of LCA upstream data levels, as literally thousands of subprocesses could be modified to meet the specific resolution of the system. The major goal of the BIM/LCA project was to impart an understanding and appreciation of the environmental implications of engineered buildings through a life-cycle framework.