Making an impact

This page offers some advice and best-practice approaches for maximizing the impact your analysis will have on a project's design decisions.

Focus on the following approaches for your BEM analysis projects:

• Good planning
• Good analysis
• Good communication

And aim for the following results:

• Relevant analysis results

• Accurate and credible results
• Timely results
• Insights understood by client

Good planning

Be sure to have conversations with your client at the start of the project to ensure that you have a plan that addresses the following topics:

• What information will we want from analysis?
• When do we want it?
• Who does the work?
• What do they do?
• How is information exchanged?

Good analysis

Carry out the analysis to meet the specific needs of the project.

• Appropriate methods
• Alternatives that address design questions
• Appropriate level of detail
• Appropriate input sources
• Quality review process

Good communication

Coordination

Ensure that you coordinate with the team to understand their needs and effectively share information needed for the analysis.

• Project goals and targets
• Schedule
• Roles
• Design questions
• Model input assumptions review
• Project constraints
• Design information (plans, specs, …)

Presentation

Present the analysis results in an actionable and understandable manner.

• Address design questions
• Focus on insights
• Visual format

Best-practice concepts

• Make iterative (small/piece-wise/etc.) updates to the model and confirm the changes to the model result in expected change in energy consumption.
• Document calculations, inputs, and assumptions to the model consistently
• Save your work frequently
• Ensure you have a process in your company / group for sharing documents and energy models to limit duplication and overwriting of files
• Perform intermittent energy model reviews through the modeling process (e.g. after zoning, after envelope, after internal gains, after HVAC, results review)

Present data that is appropriate for your audience

• Technical content should be easily understandable
• Limit the use of what you as the modeler would consider “known” – explain concepts with enough detail
• Be precise in the sharing of data where possible
• Create separate meetings for different user groups if required but aim to convey information to the entire design team

Set expectations early on for timing and delivery of energy model results

• Plan energy modeling tasks in detail including reporting and review time to give realistic time frame to design team
• Communicate clearly and early if information is still missing for you to complete the modeling work
• Ensure document and information requests are clearly documented to assist with delivery timing
• Under promise and over deliver

Set yourself up for success

• Send information requests in concise packets – limit sending multiple requests unless required
• Email AND phone calls
• Respond in a timely manner to design team requests
• Present data with confidence and welcome feedback