This Boston Chapter of IBPSA-USA webinar features two presentations: Luke Troup, a recent graduate from Northeastern University, will discuss “Incorporating future climate and energy mixes in BEM,” and Samira Ahmadi, of enviENERGY, will present on “Building Electrification: From Policy Making to Implementation.”

Presentation 1: 

Luke Troup, PhD
Incorporating future climate and energy mixes in BEM

The standard industry practice uses historic weather data and static averaged energy mix information in BEM.  By projecting and localizing input data, our models can represent more realistic conditions that strongly influence building performance.  This presentation will briefly introduce (1) integrating future climate projections in weather data (using the morphing method) and (2) including spatio-temporal energy mix changes through site-to-source conversion factor adjustments.  A couple specific case studies demonstrate BEM result discrepancies of up to 10% annually from morphing weather data and up to 65% in projected site-to-source factors.

Bio:

Luke Troup is a recent graduate from Northeastern University with an Interdisciplinary PhD in engineering and architecture.  He also received both his MS in Sustainable Building Systems and BS in Civil Engineering from Northeastern in 2015. Originally from Minnesota, Luke was a photographer and cabinetmaker/woodworker – bringing a creative background to the engineering field.  His goal is to dissolve discipline boundaries and to promote a truly, effective, integrated design approach.

Presentation 2: 

Samira Ahmadi, BEMP, CPHC, LEED AP BD+C, ID+C, Homes
Building Electrification: From Policy Making to Implementation  

Our discussion will focus on how one community is aiming at reaching “deep decarbonization” goals by establishing a guideline for its new construction and retrofit projects. We will also showcase some of the energy modeling works performed for a laboratory and office building which is considering a Net Zero status.

Bio:

Samira Ahmadi is the Founding Principal of enviENERGY Studio LLC, an energy and sustainability consulting firm based in Boston with an office in New York, serving regional and national clients looking for sustainable solutions in the built environment. Her practice focuses on sustainability and energy performance analyses for new construction and existing building retrofit projects that are pursuing LEED certification and energy upgrades, occupant’s health and comfort in the built environment, and post-occupancy evaluation, and measurement and verification. Samira holds a B.S. in Architectural Engineering, Master of Architecture from University of Texas at San Antonio, and a M.S. in Building Performance and Diagnostics from Carnegie Mellon University. She is an advocate of sustainability and energy efficiency in the built environment and served on the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter Board of Directors for four years.