It has been recognised within Europe that approximately 80% of a building’s total lifecycle
energy usage occurs during its operational stage. Recent studies indicate that the ‘as-built’
performance of new or refurbished buildings frequently does not achieve the ‘as-designed’
predicted performance.
With an aim to bridge the performance gap between design intent and actual operation
performance and therefore increase the operational efficiency of buildings, a tool called VESCAN
has been newly developed by IES which goes beyond the traditional use of building
simulation at the design stage to the operational stage and enables operational energy
efficiency measures to be developed and employed. This development was funded by Scottish
Enterprise.
VE-SCAN provides users with the tool to more accurately calibrate the model of the building
by using the actual recorded information from the operational building data. By comparing the
differences between the simulated calibrated model and the operational building data, it
enables the user to identify where the building is underperforming. It was developed with
intentions to overcome the discontinuity between the simulated performance of a building at
the design stage and in operation; and the problems of maintaining efficient building control
operation by the Building Management System.
To conjunction with VE-SCAN, another newly developed IES tool via a TSB funded research
project, called VE-THERM extends the applications to manufacturing facilities where it
allows the processes being undertaken in the building to be assessed in an integrated manner,
therefore manufacturers can understand and reduce their energy use at operation stage based
on metered or estimated data.
Currently both tools are prototype products and need development to take to market as fully
fledged commercially viable products. Hence we are applying for the funding to carry out
marketing research on the assessment of their commercial viability.