Customer reviews

Mattias Jönsson is Head of Operations for Energy & Environment at Bengt Dahlgren’s south region. He is working with environmental certifications for buildings and energy audits. In the area of operation they perform energy calculations for new production and rebuilding projects. They work with everything from smaller office buildings, hotel and hospitals. BIM Energy is used for energy audits and to calculate energy savings.

The software helps them to distribute what is heating energy and what is building operational energy, and to distribute electricity to fans/pumps and operational electricity respectively. Often gauges are missing, and there BIM Energy can fill in the missing information.

What are the benefits of using BIM Energy?

The quickness to build up a 3D-model, and at the same time access calculations that are more accurate than Excel calculations. Calculations of savings in energy audits, is also an efficient usage of BIM Energy”, says Mattias.

How has your way of working changed since you started using the software?

I work less in Excel and often build up a model in BIM Energy instead. Then I adjust the model until it corresponds to the measured energy use. The total time can be the same, but the results are more accurate, Mattias explains.

Linus Sandström is an energy expert at Bosyn Fastighetsbesiktningar in Umeå, Sweden. In his professional role, he conducts inspections of properties that form the basis for energy audits.

“I used to work with manual calculations and other calculation softwares, however, many softwares require large amounts of input data before receiving a report. BIM Energy’s calculation results quickly provide an energy balance that can be used, ”says Linus.

With BIM Energy, he produces energy profiles that he uses as a basis. He can also simulate the outcome with various energy efficiency measures and thus gain greater accuracy in the energy efficiency proposals.

In BIM Energy, a significant number of heat pumps from leading suppliers are installed and ready to be used in the calculation. The heat pump calculation is also done hour by hour with regards to temperatures on the hot and cold side.

This makes it easier for Linus, who also points out that proposals for measures regarding heat pumps are common. He also uses BIM Energy to simulate ventilation measures and calculate with balanced ventilation flows. “That it is a validated, dynamic program that calculates feels safe.” Linus concludes.

Rasmus Strandgren is an Energy Engineer at Caverion and works with property technology such as heating systems and ventilation systems. As part of his work, he makes calculations of the current situation and suggests energy-efficient measures.

What do you use BIM Energy for?

I use it for simulating buildings quickly to get a grip on the current/setpoint situation and then calculate energy efficiency measures such as renewing ventilation or installing heat pumps. BIM Energy is also used to give quotes on installations and our customers appreciate the higher level of detail in the quotations.

What are the benefits of BIM Energy?

You can quickly and easily simulate buildings, even those with a little more complicated geometry. There is a  large heat pump catalogue and that it is also possible to simulate heat pumps that are not in the catalogue if you have test data. The ventilation can be defined by yourself so that it’s also possible to make use of old and odd ventilation units.

Rasmus also appreciates that webinars are held where you can learn more about how to use the application and that support is always at hand.

“It is quick and easy to get a holistic view of the property’s energy performance,” concludes Rasmus.

Peter Möllerberg works as an energy expert and operations engineer at Climat80 in Malmö, Sweden. He uses BIM Energy when working with energy audits for Climat80’s customers, which are both real estate owners of housing and schools.

Previously, Peter performed the calculations of energy efficiency potential manually in Excel.

“One advantage with BIM Energy is that the building is modelled very quick, and you can see the building in the 3D model.”

says Peter.

“It is possible and easy to also simulate complex buildings and installations”.

In addition, Peter uses the application to model the building and trace deviations by comparing the measured usage with the calculated.

To Peter, it is a security to use the application to eliminate logic error which can be hard to find when performing manual calculations.

“The energy balance in the calculation takes into account how different parameters affects each other, for example how the release of internal energy affects both the heating and cooling demand respectively.“

Fastighetsteknik works with most technology areas in the real estate sector; electricity, heating, pipes, ventilation, cooling and energy. They work with real estate companies, municipalities and county councils, associations and individuals. The head office is located in Norrköping.

Erik Holmer works as an energy expert and performs energy audits and participates in energy projects. An energy project can, for example, involve replacing technical installations, such as converting to another ventilation system, installing PV panels or implementing sewage recycling. In connection with the energy declarations and energy projects, he performs a lot of energy calculations. He also works as an expert function inspector (OVK) and as a seller of residential ventilation.

He uses BIM Energy for the energy projects, but also for the energy audits where he, among other things, calculates energy saving proposals.

What do you appreciate about BIM Energy?

It is very easy to get started with BIM Energy. There is good help available with information videos in the service and customer support is always willing to help. BIM Energy is easy to use, fast calculations without long waiting times, good informative reports and the program is constantly being developed with new services.

Before he worked with BIM Energy, he used hand calculations and excel spins. Now with BIM Energy, he can create more credibility and make more accurate energy calculations.

Sören at I.K.A Byggkonsult does quite a lot of energy declarations and energy calculations. With an emphasis on energy calculations, which he uses BIM Energy for easy, effective, and accurate energy calculations for apartment-complexes and villas. Which his customers then use as basis for their building permit application.

How did you work with energy calculations before BIM Energy? And what is the reason for the change?

I used to have another energy calculation software. The problem was that I didn’t have the opportunity to input values for heat pumps, and I also needed to be able to calculate energy consumption hour by hour.

That’s why I switched to BIM Energy, it has a lot of different varieties of heat pumps to choose between and it also calculates hourly.

What is BIM Energy’s best feature?

The fact that it’s easy to input data, but also that it doesn’t take any time to run your calculations. Also, the possibility to have more flexibility with the building-geometry with the help of the proxy-function, which is something I want to implement more in my future projects.

Leif Persson is teaching the students studying to Property manager, Property technician at John Ericsson Institutet in Gothenburg and Malmö. They have been using BIM Energy for two years in a row now in the course Property technology. After an introduction lecture from Strusoft, the students are working in groups with their projects in BIM Energy.

Describe how you are using BIM Energy to the students:

”The students are working on a project for an existing building where they are evaluating renovation measures. Indata in the energy model are changed to be able to compare the energy savings from different measures. The energy model of the building’s energy consumption is set up quick and easy in BIM Energy, you can observe the result and compare the scenarios.”

How did the students work previously in this course segment?

“Previously they performed hand calculation of individual building parts, whereas the result from BIM Energy presents the energy consumption of the entire building. The students also get to try a modern energy calculation software which they will benefit from in their future working life.”

Magnus Augustsson is working with energy audits and HVAC projects.

At the moment, Magnus is doing a project with several buildings heated from a common district heating substation. By calculating each building separately in BIM Energy, the total heating distributed from the substation can be divided between the buildings.

“The calculation in BIM Energy goes quick and you get an overview. You can model the measures and evaluate if they are profitable” 

says Magnus.

“Then you can return to the models and the reports if the client wants to proceed.”

Magnus values that you can create scenarios and model different measures. Previously he used to work with manual calculations in Excel and with BIM Energy he saves a lot of time and everything is stored in one place.

Simon Siggelsten, lecturer in building technology, lectures the course ‘Management of Real Estate Facilities Cont.’ at Malmö University for the students at the program ‘Real Estate Management’. They use BIM Energy in a course during term 5 where the students try different technical actions in two different buildings to see how the result changes and be able to draw conclusions to increase the understanding of the buildings. 

The program ‘Real Estate Management’ is an interdisciplinary education where buildings are studied in economical, juridical and technical aspects. It takes a holistic approach about real estate and how a building works and how to organize and lead a business in the real estate industry. 

Starting with the preselected typologies in BIM Energy they made changes so that one of the buildings had a construction similar to a building from the million program and the other one with more modern construction to be able to compare the effect of the actions. 

For these two buildings they tried the different ventilation systems and air flows, installed heat pump and studied how the cooling need varied depending on the activity in the building.  

The reaction from the students was that the application was easy to work with and that it was smooth working in BIM Energy.  

Would you recommend other schools to use BIM Energy? 

‘Absolutely, it worked very well to use BIM Energy in the course and the students worked very independently and motivated in the application’, says Simon.  

Nils Cnattingius and Jonas Larsson work, among other things, with projects for the replacement of heating systems and use BIM Energy to evaluate different configurations.

The building models are created quickly with help of the catalog and the model is calibrated against actual consumption and then they proceed with various simulations of the heating system.

What are the benefits of using BIM Energy?

“That it is fast, both to create models and calculate different scenarios. We have previously worked in other energy calculation software and it has taken too much time for this type of assignments. We previously used excel spreadsheets also but then you miss the impact of sun and wind as well as thermal inertia in the building and it becomes complicated with installations.”

The heat pump part is especially appreciated with the large catalog of heat pumps and the fact that you can create new heat pump models from data sheets. It is possible to combine different heat pumps smoothly and the possibility of defining stop times and accumulator tanks is appreciated.

“When it comes to the climate shell, you can easily make calculations of, for example, how much insulation is profitable to add, you get quick answers,”

says Nils.

How has your approach changed since you started using the program?

“We have performed more of this type of assignment than before because it goes faster and it becomes cheaper for the customer.”

Emtiaz Brohi works as an energy coordinator at Skövdebostäder. He works with energy follow-up, energy efficiency measures, planning energy measures, saving before the business plan and various energy projects.

BIM Energy Renovation is used to get an estimate before they make a decision about measures for the properties. They can see synergistic effects of various measures with the help of the program.

What are the benefits of using BIM Energy?

“It has given us good conditions to be able to plan future measures in the form of “the overall methodology”. We can use BIM Energy as a basis for decisions to be made in our energy plan, which is part of the business plan. I appreciate that BIM Energy is easy to use for everyone.”

What do you think BIM Energy can do to improve your work?

“I can model and test my way with different energy measures and see which of these measures suit a specific property. It makes it easier to work with several measures on one property and then move on with another property. That way, we don’t have to make point efforts all the time.”

Skövde kommun is a municipality in central southern Sweden. The municipality owns a property portfolio of half a million square meters of schools, preschools, nursing homes, and leisure properties. Overseeing the maintenance work is the municipality’s energy strategist Ludvig Isaksson.

With BIM Energy, they do feasibility studies and investigate their buildings to see how much energy they can save. With BIM Energy’s easy-to-use user interface, that task can be easily calculated without having to call in consultants, which suits Skövde kommun perfectly because they want to be able to carry out the work in-house.

That BIM Energy is user friendly and has a clear workflow is something that Ludvig appreciates. “It enables even people who work with the operation of the properties and who usually do not work with energy calculations, to use the program and test proposed measures,” he says.

Ludvig says that they start by modelling the building in BIM Energy to get an estimated energy use. “Modelling takes minutes instead of hours,” says Ludvig. With BIM Energy’s 3D view, they can compare the virtual model with a photo of its real counterpart to see if everything is correct. The model’s consumption results are then compared with the actual consumption, after which they adjust the model so that it corresponds to reality.

Then they add measures in the software. The measures can range from changing ventilation flow to change windows and adding additional insulation. The energy balance then changes and the outcome becomes easy to analyse. This gives an overall picture as they can compare both before and after, for example, to see if a window replacement would make a significant change. Finally, profitability calculations are made to determine which measures they want to proceed with.

“If it is cold in the classrooms, it is easy to simulate the building to see what needs to be fixed, and with that, we have a documented model that we can go back to,” concludes Ludvig.

Björn Pettersson is project leader and certified energy expert at SmartFront. SmartFront perform energy renovations and renovation work to create energy smart properties. Above all they offer their solution SmartFront method, which is a patented method for upgrade of fasade, ventilation and window on existing properties.  

Björn works with energy renovations in multifamily housings in projects in whole Sweden. He has just started using BIM Energy, but is already a diligent user, who discovered a lot of possibilities in the software.  

BIM Energy is a very good tool for Björn when he applies for the Swedish Boverket’s “Support for energy efficiency actions in apartment buildings”. He also uses BIM Energy for energy calculations to show the good effect with the SmartFront method. Generally speaking, BIM Energy helps to get concrete results of energy calculations that reflects the reality. 

What do you appreciate most about BIM Energy? 

The user-friendliness! And the clear user interface.  

Strömstadsbyggen and Strömstadslokaler manage properties such as housing, industry, schools and sports facilities in Strömstad and are owned by Strömstad Municipality. The vast majority of buildings have been heated by geothermal heatpumps since the early 1990s when fuel oil was phased out. 

What are the benefits of using BIM Energy? 

To be able to investigate different alternatives to energy measures ourselves without having to contract consultants. At an early stage when renovation is planned, we can see what measures we should invest in. What are the savings of adding additional insulation or replacement of windows for example. An additional advantage is to be able to simulate different heat pumps as well, which is especially useful due to the large use of geothermal heat pumps in Strömstad. 

How has your way of working changed since you started using the program? 

We are not as dependent on consultants but can do investigations by ourselves. We plans to build up all our buildings as energy models and be able to evaluate proposed measures in connection with energy audits and renovations. 

José Escobar have been a certified energy expert since 2009 and work at Villabesiktningar i Stockholm since 2012 where he offers consultant services in inspection, energy calculations and energy audits, both for single-family houses and housing cooperatives.

José started with BIM Energy quite recently, but have already done many simulations in the software. He can see that BIM Energy will be useful for him when applying for building permits and for production and extension of buildings. He have also used it when applying for support for energy efficiency actions.

José likes that BIM Energy is a fast and easy way to make energy calculations. The nice and flexible presentation of the calculation results is also an advantage.

I will save time and be able to present nice reports, concludes José.