Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

BIM-based green building evaluation and optimization: A case study

Kai Guo a, Qing Li b, Limao Zhang c, *, Xianguo Wu d
a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
b
School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, 391 Binshui West Road, Xiqing District, Tianjin 300384, China
c
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
d
School of Civil Engineering and Hydraulic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Yutao Wang Green building has drawn worldwide attention due to the adverse impact of construction on the environment.
This research presents a Building Information Modeling (BIM) based evaluation system for the performance
Keywords: assessment of green buildings. Combining BIM technology with green building analysis, the proposed approach
BIM can fully utilize the advantages of the BIM model and quickly conduct green building evaluation. A green
Green building evaluation
building evaluation framework is constructed, which evaluates the green building performance from five aspects,
Building renovation
i.e., the main building, the building envelope, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the lighting
Performance optimization
and equipment, and extra points. A case study is performed to test the applicability and effectiveness of the
proposed approach. Important findings are: (1) The performance of the target green building is determined as
0.87 (i.e., a fairly poor level), but it could be upgraded to 1.32 (i.e., a good level) with the consideration of extra
points for the green building evaluation (2) Building renovation measures (i.e., improving the building envelop,
HVAC, and lighting and equipment); could improve the performance of the green building by 31.5% on average.
A synergetic impact exists among these renovation measures, where the impact of renovating all three aspects is
greater than simply the sum of taking three individual measures; (3) Optimization of the green building per­
formance could not only reduce the energy consumption but also create a more comfortable environment for the
occupants, where severe conditions could be greatly reduced. The novelty of this research lies in (a) presenting a
BIM-based model that is able to effectively perform the green building evaluation and optimization in a wide
range and also incorporate the regional features as needed; (b) proposing a novel grading rule that makes
influential factors under different standards measurable in a more intuitive manner.

1. Introduction demolition (Wen et al., 2020; Zuo and Zhao, 2014). The wide devel­
opment of green buildings is environmentally friendly and can effec­
With the rapid development of urbanization, the environmental issue tively reduce energy consumption and thus economically benefit all
has drawn worldwide attention from both the research and practice stakeholders (Ding et al., 2018b). Especially, green buildings are often
fields (Chuai et al., 2021). Building sectors are studied responsible for designed to use recycled materials and minimize energy consumption
nearly 40% of global energy consumption and producing around 30% of throughout the life cycle, which makes green buildings more attractive
the greenhouse gas emissions (Li et al., 2021a; Wu et al., 2019). To as an incentive for a better future for the construction industry (Awadh,
realize sustainable development, green building has become a primary 2017).
concept that could promote the health, safety, energy-saving environ­ Due to the possible benefits, a lot of studies have been done on the
ment of construction buildings (Chi et al., 2020). To promote sustainable subject of green buildings. Ding et al. (2018a) investigated the barriers
development to a great extent, green buildings are constructed to save of evaluating the green building performance in the operational stages
resources, protect the environment, and minimize pollution throughout and discussed the possible measures that could overcome the barriers.
the whole life cycle of buildings (Hossain, 2018). Green buildings Zhang et al. (2018) assessed the benefits of energy-efficient certificates
perform to have less impacts on climate change by the specialized design in adding building values. Qian et al. (2015) studied the challenges in
and measurement from phases of design, construction, operation, and delivering green building projects, where the impact of transaction costs

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (K. Guo), [email protected] (Q. Li), [email protected] (L. Zhang), [email protected] (X. Wu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128824
Received 3 March 2021; Received in revised form 11 August 2021; Accepted 24 August 2021
Available online 24 August 2021
0959-6526/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

on green buildings was figured out. Wu et al. (2019) developed an establishment (BRE) in 1990, and now it has been developed as the
assessment method for green interior decoration for buildings in China. leading rating system used in Europe. The assessment in BREEAM covers
However, these studies mainly focus on the design phase for green a wide range of environmental issues, such as pollution, water use,
buildings. Few studies emphasize on developing proper measures that transport, ecology and management processes, etc. A scale of pass, good,
can improve the building performance in building renovation. very good, excellent, and outstanding are certificated to buildings ac­
Building information model (BIM) is regarded as an effective tool for cording to the building performance. Based on it, several versions are
the facilitation of green building evaluation. Information of buildings is further developed as rating systems with the consideration of regional
often fragmented and distributed in different sources. BIM and BIM- features for countries in Europe, such as BREEAM-NOR, BREEAM-SE,
related tools are effective at processing multi-disciplinary information BREEAM-NL, for Norwegian, Sweden, and Netherlands, respectively. In
of buildings from the perspective of the whole project life cycle (Pan and the U.S., a coalition, the U.S. green building council (USGBC), was
Zhang, 2021). Various categories of information can be fed into building formed in 1993 to start sharing ideas of green buildings and the need for
models, which can be managed by users. This provides much conve­ a green building rating system. By 1998, the LEED v1.0 was firstly
nience for the access of information required for the evaluation of green proposed by USGBC and developed as a green building rating system,
buildings. Building information needed for the green building evalua­ and later 19 pilot programs were successfully evaluated by LEED v1.0. It
tion can be gained from the constructed 3D model in BIM, where BIM has developed rapidly since then, and to date, it has evolved to LEED
can export information in various formats that can be dealt with in other v4.1, which is more inclusive with updated standards, and it also allows
related tools. A rapid development of BIM and BIM-related applications building owners to gain LEED credits through building performance
have provided opportunities to support green building practices, such as assessment. Evaluations for all building types and all building phases are
acoustic analysis, carbon emission, construction and demolition waste included in the LEED rating system, and detailed reference guides have
management, lighting analysis, operational energy use, and water use been established for the evaluation of different buildings.
(Ansah et al., 2019; Cavalliere et al., 2019). Due to many advantages in Similarly, a rating system, the comprehensive assessment system for
BIM, an evaluation approach integrated with BIM can be expected to built environment efficiency (CASBEE), was developed in Japan for
effectively perform the green building assessment. This research at­ evaluating green building performance. The CASBEE rating system was
tempts to develop a BIM-based approach that can not only be used to mainly used for the evaluation of new construction, existing buildings
assess the green building performance but also find out the suitable and renovation, in which a third party examined and certified assess­
measures that could optimize the building performance to a great extent. ment results according to the built environment efficiency (BEE) rule, i.
To address these issues for the assessment and optimization of the e., the environmental quality of the building dividing the environmental
building performance, the research questions in this research are: (1) load of the building. The assessment of CASBEE mainly covered four
How to construct a framework to assess the green building performance; aspects, energy efficiency, resource efficiency, local environment, and
(2) How to integrate BIM and BIM-related tools to facilitate the effi­ indoor environment as the performance indicators of the buildings. To
ciency of green building evaluation; (3) How to optimize the building promote environmental protection, various green building standards
performance by taking proper measures. To solve these questions, a have also been set in China. For the design stage, there were the green
hybrid BIM-based approach is proposed in this research. This approach design standard of civil buildings (JGJ/T 229–2010) and the civil
is expected to be able to construct a framework for the green building building green performance calculation standard (JGJ/T 449–2018).
evaluation and to find out the proper measures that can optimize the For the construction stage, there was the assessment standard for green
building performance. A case study is performed to verify the applica­ construction of buildings (GB/T 50640-2010) and the construction code
tion potential of the proposed approach, and the impacts of several for green buildings (GB 50905-2014). The technical standard (JGJ/T
measures on improving the green building performance are 391–2016) was set for the green building operation and maintenance
investigated. stage. In addition, an assessment standard for green building (GB/
The rest of this research is presented as follows. In Section 2, related T50378-2019) was approved by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-
studies on green building evaluation are reviewed. Section 3 presents Rural Development (MoHURD) for the evaluation of green building
the detailed procedures of the proposed hybrid approach. Section 4 performance in 2019 (MoHURD, 2019). The principle (applicable,
conducts a case study to test the applicability and effectiveness of the economical, green, and beautiful) was proposed for the development of
proposed approach. Section 5 investigates the effectiveness of the green buildings, and five aspects were especially stressed in the stan­
selected measures for improving building performance. Conclusions and dard, which was the safety and durability, health and comfort, occu­
future works are drawn up in Section 6. pancy convenience, resource-saving, and environment livability.
Besides these reviewed evaluation standards of different regions, other
2. Related studies commonly used assessment systems include the PromisE in Finland, the
ECO-PRO in Germany, the Athena in Canada, etc (Parida, 2020; Zhang
The concept of green building is evolved from the sustainable et al., 2017).
development of buildings, which aims to keep the balance of usage and Effective evaluation tools have a great potential to promote the
return in terms of resources and mitigate long-term impacts on the development of green buildings by providing the platform to the green
environment for now and the future. The urgency of promoting sus­ building owner, developer, and investor to make their building certified
tainable development provokes the adoption of green buildings. Green as green (Krizmane et al., 2016). As introduced above, there are many
buildings can address the key requirements of sustainability, such as the evaluation tools and software all over the world for the assessment of
efficient use of energy and water, the reduction of consumption of nat­ green building performance. Though aiming to evaluate the green
ural resources, and the improvement of the environment and health building performance, these assessment systems are often based on their
(Dwaikat and Ali, 2018). Over many decades, the world has been respective national background. These systems may vary in structure,
drastically focusing on green buildings to achieve sustainable develop­ format, scope, and/or complexity. As reviewed by Khan et al. (2019) and
ment through integrated sustainable development goals. Doan et al. (2017), there is still a lack of effective rating tools for the
The aim of developing green buildings is to greatly save energy and assessment of green buildings, and there is no consensus around what
protect the environment. To support this aim, different assessment should be measured and how to measure them. To promote the effec­
methods of green building performance have emerged to realize the tiveness and efficiency of green building assessment tools in a wide
evaluation with the consideration of a broad range of environmental range, researchers have put effort into the study of fundamental ele­
issues. For example, the building research establishment environmental ments that are essential for the most commonly used rating tools (Ill­
assessment method (BREEAM) was proposed by the building research ankoon et al., 2017). However, this does not mean that a unified

2
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

approach would be enough. Many researchers still emphasize that the optimization of green buildings has not reached a consensus. Currently,
assessment tools should be adjustable to the features of certain regions the majority of studies concerning the green BIM focus on the database
and countries (Ding et al., 2018b; Shi, 2008). The conditions between management and information exchange of BIM in green buildings, en­
different regions could vary significantly, and effective assessment of the ergy simulation, building performance monitoring, and building reno­
green buildings cannot be achieved without considering the regional vation and retrofit applications (Maltese et al., 2017; Wong and Zhou,
features. By reviewing these above studies, it can be concluded that a 2015; Wu and Issa, 2015). For example, Akbarnezhad et al. (2014)
comprehensive approach could promote the rapid model of green proposed a sustainable deconstruction strategy that used the informa­
building assessment, and the approach should be flexible enough to be tion provided by BIM to enable the retrieving of energy and capital
adjustable and could be effectively applied in different regions by invested in building components. Similarly, Stegnar and Cerovšek
including the regional features. Thus, this research aims to build a green (2019) presented a hybrid method based on BIM and other information
building performance assessment framework that can be widely used technologies to support energy rehabilitation processes ranging from
and also have the capability of emphasizing the regional conditions. The energy usage diagnosis to retrofitting decision-making. Their studies
integration of BIM and BIM related tools make this aim achievable. paid less attention to integrating BIM with the green building assessment
BIM has been proved as an effective tool to facilitate the promotion and failed to address the measures achievable to optimize the perfor­
of green buildings. Green BIM is developed to denote the incorporation mance of green buildings. The potential of BIM to support the green
and application of BIM in green building construction. BIM and related building evaluation and optimization needs to be further explored.
tools possess many advantages that can benefit the development of As reviewed, though there are quite a number of studies focusing on
green buildings, such as the integration with different databases, visu­ green buildings, there is a lack of consensus between the various kinds of
alization of analytical results, and a variety of energy consumption evaluation standards, and very few studies specially investigate the
simulations. Due to these advantages, quite a number of studies have approaches that could provide appropriate measures to comprehen­
been conducted for the investigation of BIM applications on green sively optimize the green building performance. Integrating BIM and
buildings, such as energy using simulation and lighting analysis. For BIM-related tools, this research attempts to propose an approach that
instance, Gao et al. (2019) conducted a study on BIM-based Building can not only be adopted for the green building performance evaluation
Energy Modelling (BEM) for the development of energy-efficient in a wide range but also take the regional features into the consideration
building designs. Pezeshki et al. (2019) investigated the application of to especially realize the required assessment, and meanwhile, sugges­
the BIM database in BEM. Sanhudo et al. (2018) testified the techno­ tions on the measures optimizing the green building performance can be
logical capability of BIM for energy retrofitting. Kamel and Memari provided in the approach.
(2019) investigated the challenges and solutions to the inter-operability
between BIM and BEM modeling processes. 3. Methodology
Even though the above-mentioned studies have made remarkable
contributions to completing green BIM, as reviewed by Lu et al. (2017), In order to realize the efficient green building performance evalua­
how to fully take the advantage of BIM for the evaluation and tion and optimization, a BIM-based approach is proposed. The proposed

Step 1 BIM model development

Step 2 Evaluation system construct

Step 3 Evaluation and optimization

Fig. 1. Workflow for the green building evaluation approach.

3
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

approach mainly includes three steps, and the workflow is presented in mainly calculate and analyze the pressure of building surface, the wind
Fig. 1. The first step is to build the 3D model for the target building. With environment of the outside area of the building, the indoor wind envi­
BIM, the needed engineering information of the target building could ronment, the air distribution of the HVAC system, and the smoke of the
easily be integrated into the building model. Meanwhile, the model can building fire, etc. These simulations can help produce the information
be easily transferred to BIM-related tools, such as the Designbuilder, in required for the automatic and effective green building evaluation.
preparation for the simulation. To better evaluate the green building
performance and prepare for the optimization, an evaluation system 3.2. Evaluation system construct
should be constructed, which is set as step two. In this step, key influ­
ential factors to the green building performance are identified first, and In order to realize an effective performance evaluation, the second
a multi-factor evaluation framework is constructed based on the key step is to construct an evaluation system. Based on extensive literature
influential factor identification. Then, the weight of the influential fac­ review and interviews with experts in this field, key factors affecting the
tors is investigated to gain an understanding of how the factors green building evaluation can be identified, and accordingly, their
contribute to the performance and prepare for the optimization strategy. contributions to the green building performance (i.e., weights of the
In step three, the green building performance can be simulated in BIM- influential factors) are determined.
related tools with the engineering information obtained from the BIM
3D model and the integration of the identified indicators and the indi­ (1) Key factor identification
cator weights. With the simulation, the performance can be evaluated by
incorporating the desired assessment standards. After gaining the per­ According to green building assessment standards and design stan­
formance evaluation, strategies for improving the weak parts can be dards for energy efficiency of public buildings, the hierarchical evalu­
provided and the optimization can be achieved. Detailed procedures of ation system of the green building is mainly divided into four parts,
the proposed approach are presented as follows. namely, the main building, building envelope, HVAC, and lighting and
equipment. Besides, the extra points (natural ventilation and occupants’
3.1. BIM model development activity schedule) have a significant impact on building energy con­
sumption. To roundly evaluate energy consumption, the extra points are
The first step is to build a 3D model of the target building in BIM, also taken into account when determining the structure of the evaluation
which can be used for the later performance evaluation and optimiza­ system.
tion. BIM is the process of designing, constructing, or operating a The determined five parts (first-level indicators) of the performance
building or infrastructure assets using the object-oriented design, which evaluation act as the premise of selecting corresponding sub-indicators
owns the advantages of effectively constructing the 3D model. It not (second-level indicators). In this research, a literature review is first
only allows the user to visually explore the research object but also conducted to collect the sub-indicators for those first-level indicators.
conveniently integrates the required engineering information that can Then, to achieve the effective green building performance assessment by
be used for further research purposes (Heaton et al., 2019). This research BIM, some unmeasurable indicators are replaced by the equivalent pa­
aims to propose a BIM-based approach that can automatically evaluate rameters generated from BIM tools. In addition, those indicators are
the performance of green buildings. To achieve it, a BIM model of the divided into two types, namely quality (Q) and loads (L) types in view of
target building is constructed and the needed engineering information, the characteristics of indicators. Detailed descriptions of the five parts
which is necessary for the simulation and evaluation of green buildings, and the corresponding indicators in the evaluation system are presented
is integrated into the model. in Table 1.
To realize the green building evaluation, the necessary information
for the assessment needs to be integrated into the model, such as the (2) Multi-factor evaluation framework
green material database and material library, the air condition con­
trolling system, etc. BIM and BIM-related tools are able to extract the To construct the multi-factor evaluation framework for the green
related data, make the calculations according to the green ratings, and building performance, the authors performed an expert interview by
present the available credits as the output, which can be used for the asking for the opinions of 3 professional researchers in construction
determination of the performance of green buildings. Next, a link is management and 5 experienced green project stakeholders. Specifically,
created between the BIM model and performance simulation tools for the interview mainly includes two procedures: First, the interviewees
the performance simulation and evaluation. Tools that can fill this are provided with an explanation of the research purpose and the in­
purpose include Ecotect, Designbuilder, and others. dicators collected from the literature review and green design standards.
To specially fulfill the purpose of performance evaluation of green Then, the interviewees are requested to answer some questions, such as
buildings, several aspects of information are particularly required to be ‘‘Do you agree with the structure breakdown and the collected indicators
integrated into the target BIM model, such as lighting, heating, venti­ of the green building performance evaluation system? If you do not
lation, etc. The lighting simulation can mainly calculate and analyze agree, what are your opinions?”. The interviewed professional re­
indoor and outdoor daylighting, direct and indirect sun exposure time, searchers all have a good grasp of the research framework, and the
the best orientation of the building, etc. In green buildings, the lighting selected project stakeholders have been closely involved in designing
and sunshine analysis of the BIM model can be carried out to perform the different green projects. Therefore, their opinions are representative and
lighting situation of buildings at different time, in order to obtain the realistic. All the feedback is positive and in line with the designed
lighting coefficient, illumination, and other information data to guide framework as shown in Fig. 2, and this further ensures the completeness
the green building design. Also, what-if scenario analysis could identify and validity of the identified indicators.
the energy consumption condition by subcategories and then achieve
the purpose of saving lighting electricity and reducing energy con­ (3) Factor weight determination
sumption (Li et al., 2021b). Building thermal environment simulation is
mainly used to study and analyze the building structure envelope, In order to perform an accurate evaluation and gain effective reno­
heating and cooling system, lighting system, solar irradiation, temper­ vation measures for the optimization, the weight of the key factors
ature changes, etc. In green building design, the thermal environment should be determined. The weights of indicators reflect the importance
simulation of the BIM model can provide professional information for of each evaluation indicator. The developed evaluation index system
reference in the design stage of heating, lighting, and other energy includes 5 first-level indicators and 18 s-level indicators that need to be
consumption systems. Building wind environment simulation can assigned with weights. Determining the indicator weight is a necessary

4
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Table 1
Description of indicators in the proposed evaluation framework for green buildings.
First-level Second-level indicator Description Standard References
indicator

Main building Shape factor Q211 Ratio of the outer area of a building in contact with the outdoor atmosphere ≤0.5 (Lin, 2016; Wang, 2018)
(V1) to the volume it surrounds
Greening rate of Ratio of green area to the area of land used for buildings ≥0.25 (Cai, 2016; Hu, 2016; Lin, 2016)
surroundings Q212
Density L211 Ratio of the sum of the base area of a building to the area occupied within a ≤0.35 (Cai, 2016; Lin, 2016; Wang,
certain range 2018)

Building envelope Shading Q221 Measure of thermal performance of a glass unit in a building. ≥0.6 (Cai, 2016; Ding, 2013; Hu,
(V2) 2016)
2
Window to wall ratio Q 22 Measure of the percentage area determined by dividing the building’s total ≤0.6 (Ding, 2013; Lin, 2016; Wang,
glazed area by its exterior envelope wall area. 2018)
Heat transfer coefficient of Referring to how well heat is conducted through over the walls ≤1.5 (Ding, 2013; Hu, 2016; Lin,
external wall L221 2016)
Heat transfer coefficient of Referring to how well heat is conducted through over the roof ≤3.2 (Ding, 2013; Wang, 2018)
roof L222
SHGC of external window Fraction of solar radiation admitted through a window, door, etc. ≤0.5 (Cai, 2016; Ding, 2013)
L223
Air tightness of externals Under wind and heat pressure, the ability to ensure the stability of the ≤0.5 (Ding, 2013; Lin, 2016; Wang,
L224 thermal insulation performance of exterior windows 2018)

HVAC (V3) Humidity Q231 Relative indoor humidity, one of the most important factors affecting indoor ≤80% (Ding, 2013; Lin, 2016)
environmental quality
2
Fresh air volume Q 32 Fresh air brought by the systems from outside ≥2000 (Hu, 2016; Lin, 2016)
Heating system COP L231 The performance coefficient of the heating system ≥1.8 (Cai, 2016; Ding, 2013; Hu,
2016)
Cooling system COP L232 The performance coefficient of the cooling system ≥2.0 (Ding, 2013; Hu, 2016)
Air condition controlling Energy consumption of air condition systems ≤1000 w/ (Cai, 2016; Hu, 2016; Lin, 2016)
system L233 m2

Lighting and Daylight factor Q241 The ratio of the light level inside a structure to the light level outside the ≥2 (Ding et al., 2018b; Hu, 2016)
equipment (V4) structure, which can reduce reliance on artificial lighting, cooling load, and
energy demand
Illuminance density Q242 The total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area ≥9.0 (Hu, 2016; Zhang et al., 2019)
Lighting L241 Lighting systems ≤10 w/m2 (Cai, 2016; Hu, 2016; Wang,
2018)
Equipment L242 All other equipment, such as the elevator, computer, etc. ≤1.0 w/ (Hu, 2016; Lin, 2016; Wang,
m2 2018)

Extra points (V5) Natural ventilation Q251 Using wind and thermal buoyancy to create air movement in and out of the ≤0.5 (Siew et al., 2011; Wang and
building Malkawi, 2019)
Activity schedule L251 Occupants’ behaviors, such as working time, turning on/off the air condition, ≤0.8 (de Meester et al., 2013; Gaetani
opening/closing windows et al., 2016; Hong et al., 2017)

Note: Indicators are retrieved from related references and standards. The requirements of the second-level indicators are all retrieved from the national standard
(Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings GB 50189-2015). The superscript of Q and L indicates the levels of the factors, and the subscript indicates the
specific aspect and exactly which factor it is. For example, Q11 represents the first-level Quality for the first aspect (i.e., the main building aspect), L13 represents the
first-level Load for the third aspect (i.e., HVAC aspect), Q212 indicates that it is a second-level factor and the subscript indicates that it is the second factor for the first
aspect (i.e., the main building aspect), and in the same way, L232 indicates that it is a second-level factor and it is the second factor for the third aspect (i.e., HVAC
aspect).

step to build the evaluation model and measure the performance of the 3.3. Building evaluation and optimization
green buildings.
To give the weights of all indicators, the authors consult with ex­ The third step is to perform the green building evaluation and find
perts, including scholars and experienced construction professionals. the potential renovation measures for the optimization. With the con­
These experts are requested to assign a weight to each indicator based on structed 3D model and the required engineering information integrated,
their working experience. Specially, all experts are required to assign the building simulation is conducted to realize the green building per­
weights to all second-level indicators and five first-level indicators. The formance evaluation.
quality and load indicators in the first level are given weights separately
and their sum equals the total weight (i.e., 1). Specifically, if the (1) Performance simulation
building design meets the items mentioned in extra points, an additional
score is given as a bonus to the total score which may improve the A variety of BIM-related tools, such as Designbuilder and Ecotect,
performance level of the green buildings. If not, there is no change to the could carry out the performance simulations, and Designbuilder is
total score. selected as the tool to conduct the simulation in this research, because of
Considering the subjectivity of the expert interview, the authors its advantage of high operability and functionality. Designbuilder is an
further refer to the existing research on indicator weight of energy EnergyPlus based software, which is developed to simplify the building
consumption to compare the studied weights with the results obtained simulation process. Designbuilder allows the import of 3D models
from the experts’ consultation. For those weights that have a great dif­ created in Revit, MicroStation, or other 3D CAD systems supporting
ference, the authors ask experts to give another round of assignments. gbXML and dxf data exchange. It allows the input of all the green
After several rounds of evaluation and adjustments, both the authors building data to perform the alternative comparison and parametric
and experts are approved of the determined indicator weights. Detailed analysis of different building design plans, and a wide range of energy
information about indicator weights is provided in Table 2. performance simulation results could be provided in Designbuilder.

5
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 2. Multi-factor framework for the evaluation of green building performance.

DesignBuilder has multi-functions for the simulation. The process Buildings GB 50189-2015, enacted by the Ministry Housing and Urban-
using Designbuilder to perform the energy analysis and green building Rural Development of China to regulate the green building develop­
simulation is that based on the established 3D model, a gbXML file could ment) indicates that the wind velocity of the pedestrian-level wind
be exported from the Architecture Revit and then imported into should be less than 5 m/s. It means that the situation of the building
DesignBuilder. With the integration of the required green building in­ generally satisfies the requirement of building orientation and prevail­
formation and local weather condition, simulations can be conducted to ing wind.
produce the detailed results, such as energy consumption, thermal and
comfortable conditions, which can be used to assess the performance of (2) Performance evaluation
the target green buildings. Fig. 3 presents the screenshots of the
parameter settings and simulation outputs for the green building per­ To effectively evaluate the performance of green buildings, a scoring
formance assessment. As demonstrated in Fig. 3 (a) and (b), parameters rule is proposed in this research. The way to score the influential in­
of the target green buildings can be set as required, such as the HVAC, dicators is expressed in Eqs. (1)–(3). As analyzed above, the green
lighting condition, simulation period, whether including specific parts building evaluation system is divided into 5 aspects (first-level in­
in the thermal calculations, and the output forms. As an output example dicators) and 20 sub-factors (second-level indicators) in total. Eqs. (1)–
shown in Fig. 3 (c), the simulated results can be visualized and exported (3) can be used to gain the crisp values for all the 20 sub-factors. As for
into excel files for the performance evaluation. the values of second-level indicators, the maximum score is set to 100.
A simulation example result related to the ventilation of green Actual values are calculated by comparing the actual situation with the
buildings is presented in Fig. 4. Building orientation is an important desired data, as shown below.
factor influencing natural lighting and ventilation, which indirectly ⎧
leads to energy consumption to keep a comfortable indoor environment. ⎨ Sa − Standard , if S < 2 × Standard
(1)
a
α= Standard
It is favorable for buildings to be constructed by referring to the local ⎩
1 , if Sa ≥ 2 × Standard
best orientation and is suggested to avoid the prevailing wind in winter
to prevent extra heating requirements. Building ventilation is mainly ⎧
achieved using mechanical or natural ventilation, of which the me­ ⎨ Standard − Sa , if S < 2 × Standard
(2)
a
chanical ventilation consumes energy. Thus, natural ventilation can be
α= Standard
⎩
well utilized to save energy. According to the natural ventilation anal­ − 1 , if Sa ≥ 2 × Standard
ysis in the simulation, the wind direction and wind velocity of the
S = 60 + α × 40 (3)
selected building are 162.8 and 1.2 m3/s, respectively. The green
building standard (Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public
IPi = (100 − Si ) × Wi (4)

6
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Table 2 users with a clearer understanding of how good or bad the particular
The determined weights of all the indicators in the green building evaluation factor is, and it could also offer perceptions relating to the potential
system. optimization measures (the optimization could start from renovating the
First-level First-level Second-level Second-level factors with the lowest scores).
indicators weights indicators weights After obtaining all the scores for the sub-indicators, a specific eval­
Q L Q L uation standard is integrated for gaining the final results for assessing
1 2 the green building performance. Inspired by the Comprehensive
The main Q 1: – Shape factor Q 11: –
building (V1) 0.15 0.5 Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) devel­
Greening rate of Q212: – oped in Japan, a method for evaluating and rating the environmental
surroundings 0.5 performance of buildings and the built environment, the authors defined
1
– L 1: Density – L211: 1 the green level as a ratio of building quality (Q) and environmental loads
0.20
(L) and named it as building greenness degree (BGD). Specifically, based
Building Q12: – Shading Q221: – on the determined indicators and weights presented in Table 2, the Q
envelope (V2) 0.20 0.4
and L of all first-level indicators can be calculated by Eqs. (5) and (6).
Window to wall ratio Q222: –
0.6
∑
1 Q1i = (wQ )2ij Q2ij (i = 1, 2, 3, 4; j = 1, 2, 3, …n) (5)
– L 2: Heat transfer – L221:
j
0.15 coefficient of external 0.3
wall ∑
Heat transfer – L222: Li1 = (wL )2ij L2ij (i = 1, 2, 3, 4; j = 1, 2, 3, …m) (6)
coefficient of roof 0.3 j
SHGC of external – L223:
window 0.2 where the superscripts 1 and 2 represent the first-level indicators and
Air tightness of L224:
–
second-level indicators, respectively, w indicates the weights of in­
externals 0.2
dicators, n and m indicate the numbers of first-level indicators and
HVAC (V3) Q13: – Humidity Q231: – second-level indicators, respectively.
0.25 0.4
After obtaining the values of all first-level indicators, the total Q and
Fresh air volume Q233: –
0.6 L of the building design are calculated, as presented in Eqs. (7) and (8).
1
– L 3: Heating system COP – L231: ∑
0.3 0.4 Q= (wQ )1i Q1i (i = 1, 2, 3, 4) (7)
Cooling system COP – L232: i

0.2 ∑
Air condition system – L233: L= (wL )1j L1j (j = 1, 2, 3) (8)
0.4 j

Lighting and Q14: – Daylight factor Q241: –

equipment 0.25 0.5 where the superscript 1 represents the first-level indicators, i and j
(V4) Illuminance density Q242: – indicate the ith quality indicator and jth load indicator, respectively.
0.5 Finally, the BGD ignoring the bonus point is presented by Eq. (9).
L 14: Lighting L241:
– –
According to the calculated result, the performance level of the green
0.15 0.6
Other equipment – L242: buildings is divided into five levels, including I (Excellent), II (Very good),
0.4 III (Good), IV (Fairly poor), and V (Poor). The specific division of the
Extra points (V5) Q15: – Natural ventilation Q251: –
green level is presented in Table 3.
0.15 1.0
BGD = Q/(100 − L) (9)
L 15: Activity schedule – L251:
0.2 1.0
where Q is the quality and L is the load. For the bonus point of extra
Overall Q1: L 1: Q2: 5.0 L2:
–
points, the BGDb can be similarly calculated with Q51 and L51 . Then, the
1.0 1.0 5.0
gained scores can be directly added to BGD. The ultimate value of BGDu
Note: “–” indicates that the weight of the specific indicator is not available. The considering the bonus point is obtained. Therefore, the green level of the
superscript of Q and L indicates the levels of the factors, and the subscript in­ target building considering the bonus point can be assessed. This com­
dicates the specific aspect and exactly which factor it is. Q2 and L2 represent the plementary indicator contributes to a more precise evaluation of the
overall Quality and Load of the second-level factors, and Q1 and L1 represent the
green building performance.
overall Quality and Load of the first-level factors.

(3) Performance optimization

where α is calculated from Eq. (1) when the standard of the target factor
has a lower bound, otherwise, α is calculated from Eq. (2), where the Based on the evaluation results, strategies could be provided to
standard of the target factor has an upper bound, S represents the score realize the green building performance optimization. As presented in the
of one special factor, Si is the gained score for the ith factor, Wi is its multi-factor evaluation framework, five aspects are determined in this
weight, and IPi presents its improvement potential, which indicates the research for the green building performance evaluation and optimiza­
extent that a particular factor could be improved and thus contributes to tion. After performing the evaluation, the BGD values for both the target
the improvement of its corresponding first-level factor. For example, it is building and the five aspects, including their respective sub-factor
regulated that the heat transfer coefficient of the exterior wall, L221, of a scores, can be gained. Then, three steps could be performed to find
public building should be less than 0.8 (w/m.k). If there are two target out the potential strategies for the green building optimization.
buildings, and the heat transfer coefficients for them are 1.0 and 1.2 (w/ The first step is to analyze the problem according to the evaluation
m.k), respectively. Then, using Eqs. (2) and (3), the scores for the heat results. The aspects with lower BGD values and the factors with lower
transfer of the two buildings are calculated as 50 and 40.0, respectively. scores can be identified as the weak parts of the green building, and the
Comparing to the traditional evaluation method where the coefficients renovation measures could mainly focus on the improvement of these
of 1.0 and 1.2 are just regarded as unqualified, the proposed rule could parts. Step two is to investigate the feasibility of potential optimization
provide a concrete score for the specific factor. This could provide the measures and re-configure parameters of potentially feasible measures.

7
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 3. Screenshots of the settings of Designbuilder for the green building simulation and evaluation: (a) Parameter setting for the occupants’ activity; (b) Parameter
setting for the simulation calculation; (c) A simulation output example.

Fig. 4. A simulation example of the orientation and wind of the studied building: (a) Best building orientation; (b) Wind rose plot.

renovation strategies with better improved BGD values could be regar­

Table 3
ded as effective renovation measures.
The division standard of the green building evaluation.
Grade Criteria Performance evaluation 4. Case study
I BGD>3.0 and Q > 2 Excellent
II BGD = 1.5–3.0 or BGD>3.0 and Q ≤ 2 Very Good 4.1. Case background
III BGD = 1.0–1.5 Good
IV BGD = 0.5–1.0 Fairly Poor
V BGD<0.5 Poor
For the preliminary application of the evaluation system in the pre­
vious section, an existing school building in Wuhan (a city located in
Note: Noticeably, the target green building can be evaluated as under level I Central China) is chosen as a case study to evaluate the green building
(Excellent) only when its BGD value is more than 3.0 and the Quality value (Q) is
performance. The selected West-Twelfth building at Huazhong Univer­
more than 2. The target green building would be regarded as under level II if its
sity of Science and Technology (HUST) is nearby the south gate of HUST,
BGD value is within the scope of 1.5–3.0, or even if its BGD value is more than 3
but its Quality value (Q) is less than 2. which was the largest school building in Asia when built. The building
covers an area of around 33,350 square meters and its length, width, and
height are 177, 64.6, and 24 m, respectively. The main body of the
Theoretically, parameters related to the five aspects of green buildings
building is a reinforced concrete frame structure with five floors,
all could be adjusted, but measures could be infeasible under some
designed by the Architectural Design Institute of HUST and constructed
circumstances. For example, the shape factor of the main building
by Zhejiang Zhongtian construction company. A total of 32 regular
usually cannot be adjusted, even though it may exert a great influence
classrooms and 80 lecture halls are all equipped with air conditioning
on the green building performance. Parameters of the feasible optimi­
and multimedia equipment, which can accommodate 18,000 people.
zation measures could be adjusted as introduced above in the simulation
The scene photos of the target school building are presented in Fig. 5,
part. The third step is to put the adjusted model into the simulation,
and the 3D model established in the Revit is presented in Fig. 6.
execute the simulation and determine the effectiveness of the optimi­
zation measure according to the re-evaluated performance results. Due
4.2. Performance simulation
to the complex relationships between the factors and the green building
performance, renovation strategies cannot be decided without repeating
The 3D model of the school building can be conveniently extracted
the simulation process. By putting the measures of adjusting different
from BIM and imported into DesignBuilder, and it is demonstrated in
aspects into the simulation and comparing the evaluated results, the
Fig. 7. In the simulation model, the cooling temperature and initial

8
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 5. Scene photos of the target school building: (a) Front view; (b) Plan view.

Fig. 6. 3D model of the school building: (a) Front view of the target building; (b) Vertical view of the target building.

Fig. 7. The developed energy simulation model of the target building at Designbuilder.

temperature of classrooms and lecture halls are set to 25 ◦ C and 28 ◦ C,

Table 4
respectively. For heating temperature, the values are 20 ◦ C and 8 ◦ C,
The settings of building parameters in the simulation model.
respectively. Other zones have no air-conditioning. The power density of
lighting and equipment is 5 W/m2 and 9 W/m2, respectively. On the Building parameter Value

standard weekday, the operating time of classrooms and lecture halls Insulation thickness of the external wall 7.95 cm
and air-conditioning are 8:00–22:00 and 8:00–17:00, respectively. Solar heat gain coefficient of external window 0.691 W/(m2⋅k)
Indoor design temperature 25 ◦ C
Considering public holidays and summer-winter holidays, there are 72
Fresh air volume 8vs/person
days out of operation in the school building. As for the detailed settings Energy efficiency ratio of air-conditioning 3.6
of building parameters, they are presented in Table 4. In the simulation Window to wall ratio 0.3
model, the activity of the classrooms is set to reading, and the occupancy Setpoint temperature of natural ventilation 18 ◦ C
of the classrooms is set to 95% from 8:00–18:00 and 30% from
19:00–22:00 on the workday.
Fig. 8 demonstrates the energy consumption comparison between

9
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 8. Comparison of the actual and simulated energy consumption results in the studied school building.

the simulated results and the actual energy consumption. As presented, 4.3. Performance evaluation
the energy obtained in the simulation is basically in line with the actual
energy consumption condition for every month, and it is just slightly less After conducting the above-mentioned performance simulation, the
in total consumption. This can verify the accuracy of the simulation scores of all second-level indicators are obtained, and the corresponding
model. values of second-level Q2 and L2 are calculated for the school building.
Fig. 9 presents a primary simulation of the daylighting of the target Then, combined with the weights of first-level indicators, the value of all
building. Sunlight determines the indoor natural daylighting of the first-level Q1 and L1 indicators can be calculated. Tables 5 and 6 provide
building and further influences the usage of artificial lighting. According calculation information on all indicator scores. Fig. 10 demonstrates the
to the green building assessment standard (Design Standard for Energy energy-using condition by the subcategories, including heating, cooling,
Efficiency of Public Buildings GB 50189-2015), the daylight factors of 75% and lighting and equipment. In total, the lighting and equipment takes
interior place require more than 2%, and the daylight factor in staircases the largest part of energy consumption, and it is followed by heating and
or toilets should be not less than 1.0%. As demonstrated in Fig. 9, the cooling. Fig. 11 presents the thermal comfort condition of the target
daylight factors of all zones are above 2%. The classrooms and lecture building for the simulated year. The results are analyzed as follows.
halls have high daylight factors, and daylight factors of staircases and
toilets are smaller. Also, the lux of the building is above 300. The (1) The bonus points exert a great influence on the performance of
simulated results indicate that the lighting loads of the school building the green building. As calculated from the simulation, the studied
are energy-saving efficient. Combined with other parameters, such as school building is evaluated as 0.87 (i.e., at a fairly poor level)
illumination, power density, setpoints and operating time of air- without considering the bonus point. However, it can be upgra­
conditioning, and others, the energy analysis can be conducted. ded to 1.32 (i.e., at a good level) when the bonus point is taken
into account. The natural ventilation is one of the most important
renewable energy sources, and the wind produced by it could
effectively reduce the dependence on fossil energy consumption.

Fig. 9. Simulated daylight analysis results at the standard floor of the studied school building.

10
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Table 5 very good levels. However, the HVAC part is under a fairly poor
Qualified scores for the second-level indicators. level. More importantly, the building HVAC accounts for a large
First-level Second-level Weight Observed Qualified IP part of the building energy consumption, and HVAC improve­
indicator indicator value score (%) ment is often set as a critical part for optimizing the green
V1 Q211 0.5 0.8 36.0 32.0 building performance (Long et al., 2020). Thus, a renovation
Q212 0.5 0.3 68.0 16.0 measure on improving the HVAC for the green building optimi­
L211 1.0 0.45 48.6 51.4 zation could be expected. As shown in Table 5, in the HVAC part,
V2 Q221 0.4 0.5 53.3 18.6 the influential factors could be improved by 20.4% on average,
Q222 0.6 0.3 80.0 12.0 and the relative humidity factor has the greatest improvement
L221 0.3 1.2 68.0 9.6 potential of 32.0%.
L222 0.3 3.2 60.0 12.0
(3) A relatively unpleasant thermal condition is produced in the
L223 0.2 0.6 52.0 9.6
L224 0.2 0.6 52.0 9.6 target building for the occupants. Fig. 11 presents the simulated
results of the relative humidity, operative temperature, and PMV
V3 Q231 0.4 59.64% 20.0 32.0
Q232 0.6 2200 64.0 21.6
value distributions of the target building. As demonstrated, it has
L231 0.4 1.7 57.8 16.8 only 106 days under comfortable conditions. That is to say, the
L232 0.2 1.7 54.0 9.2 humidity of the building can meet the requirement of the stan­
L233 0.4 1400 44.0 22.4 dard (i.e., <80%), the operative temperature is between 20 and
V4 Q241 0.5 2.57 71.4 14.3 26 ◦ C, and the PMV value stays in the comfortable scale (i.e.,
Q242 0.5 11.71 72.0 14.0 − 1<PMV<1). However, it has a significantly uncomfortable
L241 0.6 13 48.0 31.2
number of days (157 days), when the PMV value is either above 2
L242 0.4 1.3 48.0 20.8
or below − 2. In general, improving the thermal condition in
V5 Q251 1.0 0.6 52.0 48.0 buildings would inevitably lead to more energy consumption and
L251 1.0 0.6 70.0 30.0
harm the green building performance (Yu et al., 2015). In the
Notes: Improvement potential indicates the extent that the particular factor target building, severe conditions (i.e., too hot or cold) are pro­
could be improved, which could contribute to the first-level indicator. For duced, and this indicates that behavior adjustment of occupants
example, Q211 has a 32.0 improvement potential, and this means that the could happen, such as turning on the air condition for a longer
greatest extent that the optimization of Q211 could contribute to the improve­ time, and the green building performance of the target building
ment of Q11 is 32.0.
could potentially be harmed.

Table 6 4.4. Performance optimization

Calculated BGD values for the first-level indicators and the overall building.
With the above evaluated results, it can be noticed that there is room
First-level indicator Determined weight for Qualified score for BGD
Q&L Q&L for the performance improvement of the target green building, which is
evaluated as under the good level and owns the potential to be upgraded
Q L Q L
to very good or even excellent. Besides, a relatively unpleasant thermal
V1 0.15 – 52.0 – 1.01 condition is produced in the target building for the occupants, whose
0.20 48.6
– –
activity is proved to be significant in the influence of the green building
V2 0.20 – 69.3 – 1.70
– 0.15 – 59.2 performance (Pioppi et al., 2020). To investigate the effectiveness of
V3 0.25 – 46.4 – 0.96 different green building optimization measures and explore the rela­
– 0.3 – 51.5 tionship between the thermal comfort condition and the energy con­
V4 0.25 – 71.7 – 1.38 sumption of the green building, strategies are implemented in this
– 0.15 – 48.0
V5 0.15 – 52.0 – 1.73
section.
– 0.2 – 70.0 Since the performance of green buildings depends on a comprehen­
Overall (Without V5) – – 45.74 42.72 0.87 sive and complex system, as revealed in the green building related
Overall (With V5) – – 60.94 56.72 1.32 studies (Ibrahim et al., 2021; Li et al., 2020), efforts are put to investi­
Note: “–” indicates the determined weight or the qualified score for Q or L is not gate the effectiveness of renovation measures (improving key influential
available. aspects) and to explore the potential joint-influence of adjusting them
simultaneously. As the factors in the main building part, building shape
This finding is verified in the studies of Huang et al. (2016) and coefficient, the greenness rate, and the density, are not easy to be
Chen et al. (2019). Besides, occupants’ behaviors are directly adjusted, and the state of the extra points is already in a good condition,
related to their activities, which could exert a great influence on the renovation of the building envelope, HVAC, and the lighting and
the energy demand, management and consumption of the green equipment aspects are taken into account. Accordingly, four different
buildings (Daemei et al., 2016; de Meester et al., 2013). Evalua­ renovation scenarios are proposed to find out the proper and effective
tion without considering these important factors would lead to a measure for green building performance optimization. Scenarios I to III
biased judgment of the green building performance. This dem­ are to investigate the effect of individually improving the building en­
onstrates the significant influence of the extra points, and it in­ velope, HVAC, and the lighting and equipment, respectively. Scenario IV
dicates the necessity of considering the extra points, which are is to explore the potential joint-effect of improving all three aspects at
indeed critical to the performance of green buildings. the same time. The simulation process and calculation results of these
(2) The HVAC part has a relatively low grading level, and it may be four scenarios are presented in Tables 7–9. Detailed discussions are
considered as a priority for building performance optimization. presented as follows.
As presented in Table 6, the BGD coefficients for the five aspects
are calculated as 1.01, 1.70, 0.96, 1.38, and 1.73, respectively. (1) Scenario II has a higher effect on the performance optimization
That is to say, if these aspects are evaluated separately, the main than the other two single-aspect renovations. As presented in
building, and lighting and equipment parts are under good levels, Table 9, the BGD coefficient of the target building is 1.47 under
and the building envelops, and the extra point parts are under Scenario I, 1.71 under Scenario II, 1.48 under Scenario III, and
2.26 under Scenario IV. The green building performance is

11
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 10. Monthly energy consumption breakdown of the studied school building.

Fig. 11. Thermal comfort simulation results for the target building: (a) Relative humidity distribution; (b) Operative temperature distribution; (c) PMV value
distribution.

improved by 11.4% under Scenario I, 29.5% under Scenario II, percentage of Scenario IV is 71.2%, which is higher than the sum
12.1% under Scenario III, and 71.2% under Scenario IV. On of the first three single aspect renovation, which is 53.0% (i.e.,
average, it reaches a 31.5% (i.e., (11.4% + 29.5% + 12.1% + 11.4% + 29.5% + 12.1%). This indicates that an interactive
71.2%)/4) performance improvement. Besides, as presented in relationship exists between all the aspects, and an enhanced ef­
Fig. 12, the energy consumption in total can be reduced by taking fect could be produced if taking the holistic renovation measure
these renovation measures. This means that the renovation into account. As also proved in many other studies (Li et al., 2014;
measures could effectively improve the building performance. Mahmoud, 2021; Paul and Taylor, 2008), the improvement on
However, for three single-aspect improvement scenarios, Sce­ the lighting and equipment part could reduce the reliance on
nario II has the highest improvement percentage, upgrading the artificial lights, which could reduce energy consumption. Mean­
condition to a very good level (BGD>1.5). These results are in while, better sunlight could not only improve the humidity con­
accordance with the study of Jiangzhu et al. (2020) that the dition, but also increases the comfortable degree of occupants
energy-saving HVAC has been proved as an effective measure to and exerts an influence on their behavior, reducing the reliance
improve green building performance. As the HVAC in buildings on air conditioning for the dehumidification process (Almeida
often accounts for a major part of the energy consumption and the et al., 2020). Accordingly, more energy could be saved. It could
HVAC part in the target green building gains the lowest grading be regarded as that a virtuous circle could be created when taking
level (as revealed in the above evaluation results), improving more renovation measures at the same time, and an enhanced
HVAC could be taken as one of the major strategies of optimizing optimization effect could be expected.
the green building. (3) Occupants’ thermal comfort could be improved along with the
(2) A synergetic impact exists by taking the measures of renovating optimization of the green buildings. By reducing the uncomfort­
the three aspects. As presented in Table 9, the improvement able days, the collective thermal comfort of occupants is raised

12
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Fig. 12. Simulation results of energy consumption under different scenarios.

Fig. 13. Simulated results of PMV values and comfortable days under different scenarios: (a) PMV value distribution; (b) Comfortable days comparison.

after taking the renovations for the optimization of the target 5. Discussions
green building. As presented in Fig. 13, compared to the original
scenario, the comfortable days under four scenarios are slightly This research explores the application of BIM and BIM-related tools
changed. However, according to the PMV value distribution for green building evaluation and optimization. Here are some theo­
(PMV ≥ 2 and PMV ≤ 2 indicate severely hot or cold conditions), retical implications. Initially, a novel evaluation system for the assess­
the uncomfortable days under all scenarios could be significantly ment of green buildings is provided in the research. Aside from the
reduced. In the original scenario, it has 157 uncomfortable days. normally included features, extra factors, including the natural venti­
By taking corresponding measures, the uncomfortable days can lation and occupants’ activity schedule, are considered in the evaluation
be reduced to 115 under Scenario I, 87 under Scenario II, 120 system for the green building assessment. It demonstrates the flexibility
under Scenario III, and 69 under Scenario IV. This demonstrates of the proposed approach, and the evaluated results also display the
that by taking corresponding measures to renovate all the three necessity of taking these critical factors into account. This is in accor­
aspects of the green building simultaneously, a relatively more dance with the studies of Chen et al. (2018) and Leroy and Yannou
comfortable environment (less severe condition) can be produced (2018) that the controlling strategy of natural ventilation and occu­
for the occupants. Combining this with the above conclusion, it is pants’ activities play critical roles in the energy efficiency of green
demonstrated that HVAC plays a critical role in the optimization buildings. This indicates that the following research could put efforts
for the target green building and the improvement of the thermal into the investigations of more flexible and inclusive evaluation systems
comfort degree. and what would be the proper evaluation system for a green building
assessment. Furthermore, the CASBEE rating system is used as the

13
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Table 7
Qualified scores for the second-level indicators under Scenarios I to IV.
First-level indicator Second-level indicator Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III Scenario IV

Value Score Value Score Value Score Value Score

V1 Q211 0.8 36.0 0.8 36.0 0.8 36.0 0.8 36.0

Q212 0.3 68.0 0.3 68.0 0.3 68.0 0.3 68.0
L211 0.45 48.6 0.45 48.6 0.45 48.6 0.45 51.4

V2 Q221 0.7 66.7 0.5 53.3 0.5 53.3 0.7 66.7

Q222 0.18 88.0 0.3 80.0 0.3 80.0 0.18 88.0
L221 0.4 89.3 1.2 68.0 1.2 68.0 0.4 89.3
L222 1.6 80.0 3.2 60.0 3.2 60.0 1.6 80.0
L223 0.3 76.0 0.6 52.0 0.6 52.0 0.3 76.0
L224 0.4 68.0 0.6 52.0 0.6 52.0 0.4 68.0

V3 Q231 64.7% 20.0 54.71% 20.0 60.38% 20.0 37.1% 20.0

Q232 2200 64.0 3200 84.0 2200 64.0 3200 84.0
L231 1.7 57.8 3.0 86.6 1.7 57.8 3.0 86.7
L232 1.7 54.0 3.0 80.0 1.7 54.0 3.0 80.0
L233 1400 44.1 700 72.0 1400 44.0 700 72.0

V4 Q241 2.58 71.6 2.58 71.6 2.57 71.4 2.58 71.6

Q242 12.42 75.2 12.19 74.2 12.29 74.6 12.42 75.2
L241 13 48.0 13 48.0 5.0 80.0 5.0 80.0
L242 1.3 48.0 1.3 48.0 0.5 80.0 0.5 80.0

V5 Q251 0.6 52.0 0.6 52.0 0.6 52.0 0.6 52.0

L251 0.6 70.0 0.6 70.0 0.6 70.0 0.6 70.0

Table 8
Qualified scores for the first-level indicators under Scenarios I to IV.
First-level indicator Second-level indicator Scores under scenarios BGD under scenarios

I II III IV I II III IV

V1 Q11 52.0 52.0 52.0 52.0 1.01 1.01 1.01 1.07

L11 48.6 48.6 48.6 48.6

V2 Q12 79.5 69.3 69.3 79.5 3.90 1.70 1.70 3.90

L12 79.6 59.2 59.2 79.6

V3 Q13 46.4 58.4 46.4 58.4 0.96 2.85 0.96 2.85

L13 51.5 79.5 51.5 79.5

V4 Q14 73.4 72.9 73.0 73.4 1.41 1.40 3.65 3.65

L14 48.0 48.0 80.0 80.0

V5 Q15 52.0 52.0 52.0 52.0 1.73 1.73 1.73 2.53

L15 70.0 70.0 70.0 70.0

Some practical implications can be drawn from the case study. The
Table 9 proposed approach in this research provides an effective and flexible
Calculated BGD results under scenarios I to IV.
way for evaluation and optimization of the green building performance,
Item Original Scenario Scenario Scenario Scenario which further could promote the development of green buildings.
I II III IV
Integrating BIM and BIM-related tools, the proposed approach is able to
BGD 1.32 1.47 1.71 1.48 2.26 efficiently build a 3D model that contains the engineering information
Improvement – 11.4% 29.5% 12.1% 71.2% for the target green building. Because of the high maturity and inter­
percentage
operability between BIM and BIM-related tools, the constructed 3D
Note: Improvement percentage indicates the extent that a particular scenario is model can be smoothly transferred between them and the needed en­
improved compared to the original results. It is calculated by (BGD of a specific gineering information can be efficiently extracted. With the 3D model
scenario – Original BGD)/(Original BGD). For example, for Scenario I, it is and extracted engineering information, the simulation for the green
calculated from (1.47–1.32)/1.32 = 11.4%.
building performance can be conducted. Combing the simulation results
and a rating system, the evaluation for the green building can be gained.
reference tool to accomplish the evaluation and optimization, which Crisp values for the performance evaluation of green buildings and the
demonstrates the extendibility of incorporating regional features to improvement potential degrees for all influential factors can be pro­
realize the green building evaluation. Though aiming the same purpose, vided, and then possible renovation measures could be designed.
energy-saving and environment protection, the evaluation and optimi­ Because of the ease of operation in the proposed approach, simulations
zation may require different according to different regional features. by varying the influential factors can be repeated as needed to achieve
This extendibility could promote green building evaluation efficiency the optimization configurations. Besides, the evaluation and optimiza­
and then further promote its development. In sum, the flexibility and tion results in the research provide some novel insights about green
extendibility of the proposed approach can guarantee that the buildings. One is that a synergetic impact by taking renovation measures
BIM-based comprehensive green building evaluation approach could be is presented. If feasible, implementing several measures at the same time
efficiently used in a wide range and also could be effectively applied for should be considered and an enhanced optimization effect could be
regional and exclusive green building evaluation. expected. In addition, a close relationship between the green building

14
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

performance and the thermal comfort of occupants is manifested. It is on developing a hybrid data-driven approach with the integration of
indicated that the thermal comfort could be improved along with the machine learning algorithms (Zhang and Lin, 2021) to realize the
improvement of green building performance by taking renovation multi-objective optimization for green buildings renovation.
measures. A better thermal comfort could then influence the occupants’
behavior, and the modified occupants’ activity may further improve the CRediT authorship contribution statement
green building performance.
Kai Guo: Writing – original draft, Methodology, Visualization,
6. Conclusions and future works Investigation, Validation, Formal analysis. Qing Li: Methodology,
Visualization, Formal analysis. Limao Zhang: Conceptualization, Su­
To reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, green pervision, Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisi­
buildings are regarded as a primary way to realize sustainable devel­ tion. Xianguo Wu: Methodology, Data curation, Writing – review &
opment. Though a lot of attention has been paid to the research of editing.
promoting the development of green buildings, there is a lack of
consensus on the standard for efficiently evaluating green buildings. An
approach with the integration of BIM is proposed in this research, which Declaration of competing interest
aims to construct an effective evaluation system to assess green build­
ings and provide suggestions for optimizing green buildings. Through We declare that the manuscript has not been submitted to, nor is
analysis, influential factors are identified, and the evaluation system is under review at, another journal or other publishing venue. All authors
constructed. The energy consumption simulation is conducted with BIM have participated in (a) conception and design, or analysis and inter­
and BIM-related tools. Based on the simulation, the score for influential pretation of the data; (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for
factors can be gained and the performance level of green building can be important intellectual content; and (c) approval of the final version. The
calculated. A school building in China is performed to test the applica­ authors have no affiliation with any organization with a direct or indi­
bility and effectiveness of the proposed approach. With the attempt of rect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.
improving the performance, the impacts of different measures on green
building performance optimization are investigated. Acknowledgment
In lights of the empirical study, some important findings are ob­
tained. The target green building is evaluated as under a fairly poor level The authors declare no conflict of interests. The Ministry of Educa­
when not considering the extra points, and it could be upgraded to a tion Tier 1 Grant, Singapore (No. 04MNP002126C120, No.
good level with the consideration of extra points. It demonstrates that the 04MNP000279C120) and the Start-Up Grant at Nanyang Technological
extra point factors indeed contribute to the green building performance. University, Singapore (No. 04INS000423C120) are acknowledged for
Building renovation measures could effectively improve the green their financial support of this research. The 1st author is grateful to
building performance of the target green building, and a synergetic ef­ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for his Ph.D. research
fect makes Scenario IV (renovating all three aspects simultaneously) scholarship.
optimize the green building performance to a higher extent. A better
comfortable condition (less severe condition) for the occupants could be References
produced along with the performance improvement of green buildings.
Demonstrated by this case study, it can be concluded that the efficiency Akbarnezhad, A., Ong, K.C.G., Chandra, L.R., 2014. Economic and environmental
of the proposed BIM-based approach is presented. The constructed BIM assessment of deconstruction strategies using building information modeling.
Autom. ConStruct. 37, 131–144.
3D model and the utility of the BIM-related tool make it easy to conduct Almeida, L., Tam, V.W., Le, K.N., She, Y., 2020. Effects of Occupant Behaviour on Energy
the green building performance simulation, based on which the evalu­ Performance in Buildings: a Green and Non-green Building Comparison.
ation and optimization can be efficiently achieved. Besides, the pro­ Engineering. Construction and Architectural Management.
Ansah, M.K., Chen, X., Yang, H., Lu, L., Lam, P.T.I., 2019. A review and outlook for
posed approach can effectively incorporate the needed rating system integrated BIM application in green building assessment. Sustainable Cities and
into the green building evaluation. As presented in the case study, the Society 48, 101576.
Japan CASBEE rating system is integrated for the evaluation of the green Awadh, O., 2017. Sustainability and green building rating systems: LEED, BREEAM,
GSAS and Estidama critical analysis. Journal of Building Engineering 11, 25–29.
building located in Wuhan, China. In addition, by conducting the opti­
Cai, J., 2016. Study on reconstruction scheme design of public green buildings. Housing
mization, the proposed approach can effectively provide the renovation and Real Estate 251 (9), 303–304.
measures to improve the target green building performance. Castro-Lacouture, D., Sefair, J.A., Flórez, L., Medaglia, A.L., 2009. Optimization model
Limitations exist in this research. The aim of this research is to for the selection of materials using a LEED-based green building rating system in
Colombia. Build. Environ. 44 (6), 1162–1170.
propose an approach that can be efficiently applied in a wide range and Cavalliere, C., Habert, G., Dell’Osso, G.R., Hollberg, A., 2019. Continuous BIM-based
can also incorporate the regional features if needed. Though the appli­ assessment of embodied environmental impacts throughout the design process.
cability of the proposed approach is demonstrated in the case study, only J. Clean. Prod. 211, 941–952.
Chen, Y., Norford, L.K., Samuelson, H.W., Malkawi, A., 2018. Optimal control of HVAC
the CASBEE evaluation standard is incorporated for the green building and window systems for natural ventilation through reinforcement learning. Energy
evaluation due to the limited available data. One of the future works is to Build. 169, 195–205.
evaluate and optimize the green building against different criteria with Chen, Y., Tong, Z., Samuelson, H., Wu, W., Malkawi, A., 2019. Realizing natural
ventilation potential through window control: the impact of occupant behavior.
the proposed approach to test its applicability and effectiveness. Besides, Energy Procedia 158, 3215–3221.
this research currently focuses on the renovations of the building en­ Chi, B., Lu, W., Ye, M., Bao, Z., Zhang, X., 2020. Construction waste minimization in
velope, HVAC, and lighting and equipment to improve the green green building: a comparative analysis of LEED-NC 2009 certified projects in the US
and China. J. Clean. Prod. 256, 120749.
building performance. However, some other factors could be critical for Chuai, X., Lu, Q., Huang, X., Gao, R., Zhao, R., 2021. China’s construction industry-
the green building performance and should be considered in building linked economy-resources-environment flow in international trade. J. Clean. Prod.
renovation. For example, a great effort is required on the selection of 278, 123990.
Daemei, A.B., Limaki, A.K., Safari, H., 2016. Opening performance simulation in natural
appropriate technologies and materials for the building envelop and
ventilation using design builder (case study: a residential home in Rasht). Energy
HVAC renovations. Especially, the budget constraint is often a decisive Procedia 100 (Suppl. C), 412–422.
factor, directly influencing the feasibility and effectiveness of the de Meester, T., Marique, A.-F., De Herde, A., Reiter, S., 2013. Impacts of occupant
renovation plans (Castro-Lacouture et al., 2009). A complex and even behaviours on residential heating consumption for detached houses in a temperate
climate in the northern part of Europe. Energy Build. 57, 313–323.
conflicting relationship between these factors brings more challenges for Ding, J., 2013. Study on the Renovation Methods of Public Green Buildings. Harbin
the green building renovations. Our subsequent studies will concentrate Institute of Technology.

15
K. Guo et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 320 (2021) 128824

Ding, Z., Fan, Z., Tam, V.W., Bian, Y., Li, S., Illankoon, I.C.S., Moon, S., 2018a. Green Mahmoud, M.M., 2021. Automated smart utilization of background lights and daylight
building evaluation system implementation. Build. Environ. 133, 32–40. for green building efficient and economic indoor lighting intensity control. Intell.
Ding, Z., Fan, Z., Tam, V.W.Y., Bian, Y., Li, S., Illankoon, I.M.C.S., Moon, S., 2018b. Contr. Autom. 12 (1), 1.
Green building evaluation system implementation. Build. Environ. 133, 32–40. Maltese, S., Tagliabue, L.C., Cecconi, F.R., Pasini, D., Manfren, M., Ciribini, A.L., 2017.
Doan, D.T., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Naismith, N., Zhang, T., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Sustainability assessment through green BIM for environmental, social and economic
Tookey, J., 2017. A critical comparison of green building rating systems. Build. efficiency. Procedia engineering 180, 520–530.
Environ. 123, 243–260. MoHURD, MoHURD, 2019. The green building assessing standard. In: GB/T50378-2019.
Dwaikat, L.N., Ali, K.N., 2018. The economic benefits of a green building–Evidence from MoHURD.
Malaysia. Journal of Building engineering 18, 448–453. Pan, Y., Zhang, L., 2021. A BIM-data mining integrated digital twin framework for
Gaetani, I., Hoes, P.-J., Hensen, J.L.M., 2016. Occupant behavior in building energy advanced project management. Autom. ConStruct. 124, 103564.
simulation: towards a fit-for-purpose modeling strategy. Energy Build. 121, Parida, S., 2020. The Effect of Green Buildings on Employees’ Performance. Curtin
188–204. University.
Gao, H., Koch, C., Wu, Y., 2019. Building information modelling based building energy Paul, W.L., Taylor, P.A., 2008. A comparison of occupant comfort and satisfaction
modelling: a review. Appl. Energy 238, 320–343. between a green building and a conventional building. Build. Environ. 43 (11),
Heaton, J., Parlikad, A.K., Schooling, J., 2019. Design and development of BIM models to 1858–1870.
support operations and maintenance. Comput. Ind. 111, 172–186. Pezeshki, Z., Soleimani, A., Darabi, A., 2019. Application of BEM and using BIM database
Hong, T., Chen, Y., Belafi, Z., D’Oca, S., 2017. Occupant behavior models: a critical for BEM: a review. Journal of Building Engineering 23, 1–17.
review of implementation and representation approaches in building performance Pioppi, B., Piselli, C., Crisanti, C., Pisello, A.L., 2020. Human-centric green building
simulation programs. Build Simul-China 11 (1), 1–14. design: the energy saving potential of occupants’ behaviour enhancement in the
Hossain, M.F., 2018. Green science: advanced building design technology to mitigate office environment. Journal of Building Performance Simulation 13 (6), 621–644.
energy and environment. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 81, 3051–3060. Qian, Q.K., Chan, E.H., Khalid, A.G., 2015. Challenges in delivering green building
Hu, X., 2016. Research on the evaluation and renovation measurement of public green projects: unearthing the transaction costs (TCs). Sustainability 7 (4), 3615–3636.
building. Architecture and Decoration (6), 86–87. Sanhudo, L., Ramos, N.M., Martins, J.P., Almeida, R.M., Barreira, E., Simões, M.L.,
Huang, H.S., Su, C.H., Li, C.B., Lin, C.Y., Lin, C.C., 2016. Enhancement of fire safety of an Cardoso, V., 2018. Building information modeling for energy retrofitting–A review.
existing green building due to natural ventilation. Energies 9 (3), 192. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 89, 249–260.
Ibrahim, M., Rachid, E., Awera, Y., Beheiry, S., 2021. Green Building Retrofitting in the Shi, Q., 2008. Strategies of implementing a green building assessment system in
UAE, Collaboration and Integration in Construction, Engineering, Management and mainland China. J. Sustain. Dev. 1 (2), 13–16.
Technology. Springer, pp. 637–642. Siew, C.C., Che-Ani, A.I., Tawil, N.M., Abdullah, N.A.G., Mohd-Tahir, M., 2011.
Illankoon, I.M.C.S., Tam, V.W.Y., Le, K.N., Shen, L., 2017. Key credit criteria among Classification of natural ventilation strategies in optimizing energy consumption in
international green building rating tools. J. Clean. Prod. 164, 209–220. Malaysian office buildings. Procedia Engineering 20, 363–371.
Jiangzhu, L., Yijun, G., Xiaolin, H., Yingjie, L., 2020. Application research of BIM Stegnar, G., Cerovšek, T., 2019. Information needs for progressive BIM methodology
technology in analysis of green building HVAC system. In: Advances in Intelligent supporting the holistic energy renovation of office buildings. Energy 173, 317–331.
Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing. Springer, pp. 11–19. Wang, B., Malkawi, A., 2019. Design-based natural ventilation evaluation in early stage
Kamel, E., Memari, A.M., 2019. Review of BIM’s application in energy simulation: tools, for high performance buildings. Sustainable Cities and Society 45, 25–37.
issues, and solutions. Autom. ConStruct. 97, 164–180. Wang, Z., 2018. Research on green evaluation system of public building reconstruction
Khan, J., Zakaria, R., Shamsudin, S., Abidin, N., Sahamir, S., Abbas, D., Aminudin, E., scheme design based on analytic hierarchy model. Engineering construction and
2019. Evolution to emergence of green buildings: a review. Adm. Sci. 9 (6), 1–20. design (4), 9–12.
Krizmane, M., Slihte, S., Borodinecs, A., 2016. Key criteria across existing sustainable Wen, B., Musa, N., Onn, C.C., Ramesh, S., Liang, L., Wang, W., 2020. Evolution of
building rating tools. Energy Procedia 96, 94–99. sustainability in global green building rating tools. J. Clean. Prod. 259, 120912.
Leroy, Y., Yannou, B., 2018. An activity-based modelling framework for quantifying Wong, J.K.W., Zhou, J., 2015. Enhancing environmental sustainability over building life
occupants’ energy consumption in residential buildings. Comput. Ind. 103, 1–13. cycles through green BIM: a review. Autom. ConStruct. 57, 156–165.
Li, J., Wang, Q., Zhou, H., 2020. Establishment of key performance indicators for green Wu, W., Issa, R.R., 2015. BIM execution planning in green building projects: LEED as a
building operations monitoring—an application to China case study. Energies 13 (4), use case. J. Manag. Eng. 31 (1), A4014007.
976. Wu, Z., Li, H., Feng, Y., Luo, X., Chen, Q., 2019. Developing a green building evaluation
Li, Y., Yang, L., He, B., Zhao, D., 2014. Green building in China: needs great promotion. standard for interior decoration: a case study of China. Build. Environ. 152, 50–58.
Sustainable Cities and Society 11, 1–6. Yu, W., Li, B., Jia, H., Zhang, M., Wang, D., 2015. Application of multi-objective genetic
Li, Q., Zhang, L., Zhang, L., Jha, S., 2021a. Exploring multi-level motivations towards algorithm to optimize energy efficiency and thermal comfort in building design.
green design practices: a system dynamics approach. Sustainable Cities and Society Energy Build. 88, 135–143.
64, 102490. Zhang, L., Li, Y., Stephenson, R., Ashuri, B., 2018. Valuation of energy efficient
Li, Q., Zhang, L., Zhang, L., Wu, X., 2021b. Optimizing energy efficiency and thermal certificates in buildings. Energy Build. 158, 1226–1240.
comfort in building green retrofit. Energy 237, 121509. Zhang, X., Zhan, C., Wang, X., Li, G., 2019. Asian green building rating tools: a
Lin, Y., 2016. Research on the renovation design of public green buildings. Building comparative study on scoring methods of quantitative evaluation systems. J. Clean.
Knowledge (3), 220-220. Prod. 218, 880–895.
Long, J., Ge, Y., Huang, X., Li, Y., 2020. Application research of BIM technology in Zhang, L., Lin, P., 2021. Multi-objective optimization for limiting tunnel-induced
analysis of green building HVAC system. In: Advances in Intelligent Information damages considering uncertainties. Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf. 216, 107945.
Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing. Springer, pp. 11–19. Zhang, Y., Wang, J., Hu, F., Wang, Y., 2017. Comparison of evaluation standards for
Lu, Y., Wu, Z., Chang, R., Li, Y., 2017. Building Information Modeling (BIM) for green green building in China, Britain, United States. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 68,
buildings: a critical review and future directions. Autom. ConStruct. 83, 134–148. 262–271.
Zuo, J., Zhao, Z.-Y., 2014. Green building research–current status and future agenda: a
review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 30, 271–281.

16