Dive Brief:

• PlanIT Impact, an online open-data tool for AEC, is launching a cloud-based assessment platform that project teams, including municipalities and owners, can use to monitor building-system performance.

• The subscription service features a 3-D modeling tool and impact score calculator that can be used during the design phase to predict a project’s energy and water consumption, storm water runoff and access to transportation.

• The platform uses open data from several federal and municipal APIs. Users geo-locate their projects to draw relevant data and create 3-D schematics that determine its economic and environmental impact, according to the company.

Dive Insight:

Energy modeling helps stakeholders better understand the life-cycle costs and performance of a project and, if necessary, modify it during the design and construction process.

Initiatives like PlanIT Impact’s take the practice a step further by incorporating public data sets that can help teams more fully assess the environmental and economic impact of a building or development. Additionally, the Web-based subscription model offers a lower cost to entry than do most existing systems.

There are other ways to determine a project’s likely impact on the environment, local economy and its occupants.

Performance-based contracts, for example, require the collection of post-occupancy data to determine whether the project team met preset environmental and behavioral performance goals.

Running a lifecycle (LCA) or triple-bottom-line analysis is another way to determine a building’s environmental, financial and social impact. In October 2016, Impact Infrastructure released its Autocase for Sustainable Buildings software, which uses location- and building-specific data to gauge the return on investment in energy-efficient products and systems and can be used to earn LEED credits.

Similarly, research-minded architecture firm KieranTimberlake, in Philadelphia, developed an Autodesk Revit plug-in, Tally, that allows users to conduct LCAs as needed during the design process, such as comparing the performance of various assembly designs and material choices.