Interoperability from building design to building energy modeling

• Proposing to create an XSLT-based exchange tool to facilitate the information exchange between building information models and building energy models.
• Developing an plug-in tool specific for the building information translate from Autodesk Revit to eQuest.
• Comparing the results of the proposed solution with those from the current the information exchange process via the Green Building Studio in three case studies.

Interoperability issues have been well acknowledged as an impediment to improve productivity in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. The current information exchange from building design to building energy modeling has numerous problems, including object parametric information deficiencies, geometric misrepresentations and re-input data confusion. These problems lead to major money, time and effort losses. This paper presents an automated solution through the design of a novel Extensible Style Sheet Language Transformation (XSLT), which includes a series of instructions to facilitate the information exchange between building design and energy modeling fields. The proposed solution has been implemented with Microsoft Visual C# Studio 2013. The effectiveness of the solution has been tested in three real case studies. The test results demonstrated that the proposed solution could rectify the overall geometric and material misrepresentations inherent to the current information exchange process.