Atlanta, Georgia: ASHRAE has informed that the need for practical building modelling applications, along with the need to transform the design approach to a collaborative process from a sequential process, will be explored during the 2017 ASHRAE Building Performance Analysis Conference, scheduled to take place from September 27 to 29, 2017, in Atlanta.

According to a communiquè from ASHRAE, the conference, formerly known as the ASHRAE Energy Modeling Conference, has a broadened scope that encompasses all uses for and aspects of modelling, and the professionals responsible for that work throughout a building’s lifecycle.

The conference topics, the communiquè revealed, include early phase analysis and the potential to reduce construction cost by many times the modelling cost, energy costs and construction costs, financial analysis/performance, energy analysis, monitoring coupled with predictive analysis to improve existing building performance, regulatory and building rating system compliance, analysis for retro-commissioning and ongoing commissioning, lighting/daylighting and water use optimisation.

It further said that the conference programme will consist of keynote speakers, invited speakers, a call for presenters and the ASHRAE LowDown Showdown.

“Building performance simulation is evolving into a multidisciplinary effort for projects,” said Dennis Knight, Conference Chair. “The long-term goal is to create models during one phase or by one discipline that can be used, relied upon and furthered developed and refined by other disciplines as the project, its data and details grow throughout the building’s life cycle.”

ASHRAE said that more information is available at www.ashrae.org/BuildPerform2017.