Application of IFC Standard in Interoperability and Energy Analysis

In this research, a new methodology to perform building energy analysis using Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard has been studied. With the help of Archicad 14 modeling software, a 3D test model is generated and then exported to IFCXML format. A ruby code program retrieves the building information from the resulting IFCXML file using Nokogiri library. An INP file is created and gets ready for next energy analysis step. DOE 2.2 program analyzes the INP file and gives a detailed report of the energy cost of the building. Case study shows when using the IFC standard method, the Interoperability of the energy analysis is greatly improved. The main stream 3D building modeling software supports IFC standard. DOE 2.2 is able to read the INP file generated by IFC file. This means almost any 3D model created by main stream modeling software can be analyze in terms of energy cost Thus, IFC based energy analysis method has a promising future. With the development and application of IFC standard, designers can do more complex and easy-to-run energy analysis in a more efficient way.