About Rooms and Spaces for Energy Analysis

When using a Revit model with building elements to perform energy analysis, rooms and spaces can provide additional information for the analysis.

In the Energy Settings dialog, use the Export Category parameter in the Detailed Model section to specify whether rooms (the default) or spaces are to be exported for use in the energy analysis.

Thermal properties for rooms

When Export Category is set to Rooms, the Include Thermal Properties parameter determines the material thermal properties that will be used in the analysis, as follows:

• When Include Thermal Properties is turned on, the energy analysis uses material thermal properties defined by materials assigned to layers for Revit building elements. See Add Thermal Properties to Building Elements for Energy Analysis.

  By default, building elements do not include thermal properties, and the energy analysis uses material thermal properties defined by Conceptual Constructions.

• When Include Thermal Properties is turned off, the energy analysis uses material thermal properties defined by Conceptual Constructions.

  See About Conceptual Constructions.

Thermal properties for spaces

When Export Category is set to Spaces, the energy analysis uses material thermal properties defined by the Building Constructions dialog.

For more information, see Add Thermal Properties to Spaces for Energy Analysis.

Settings for lighting, equipment, and occupancy data

The Export Category parameter determines the properties that will be used in the analysis for lighting, equipment, and occupancy data, as follows.

When Export Category is set to...	the energy analysis uses lighting, equipment, and occupancy data…
Rooms	defined by default settings according to the GBS building type. See Building Type in the Green Building Studio help.
Spaces	defined for spaces in the Revit model. See Space Properties.

Some Revit settings are not used during energy analysis

When performing energy analysis, Green Building Studio disregards some information provided by the Revit model, as follows:

• Plenums: Any space (or room) in the Revit model that is less than 2 meters in height is treated as an unconditioned plenum with no lighting loads or plug loads, even if Revit defines the space as a plenum (that is, the space's Plenum parameter is turned on and/or its Space Type parameter specifies Plenum).
• Infiltration settings specified for the Revit model are not used for energy analysis. Instead, Green Building Studio applies default infiltration settings. See Building Type in the Green Building Studio help.