Buildings create nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. And AEC firms are challenged to accurately calculate how their designs will impact the performance of a building before construction or renovation begins.
On March 28, a Kansas City-based startup company called PlanIt Impact launched a web application that allows users to determine the environmental and economic impact of a new or renovated building during the design process.
The cloud-based app does this with a 3D assessment tool that incorporates four key aspects of sustainable building design: energy, stormwater runoff, water consumption, and transportation access.
The tool creates a sustainability score for designs by drawing upon open data sources such as U.S. Census, the Department of Energy, City-Data.gov, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Walk Score, which now publishes statistics regarding proximity to amenities like parks, retail, and libraries.
The goal is to make it easier for AEC teams to collaborate, gather real-time information, and model materials costs and the impact of a physical attributes the building and the site.
Dominque Davison, AIA, LEED AP, an architect with DRAW Architecture +Urban Design, is CEO of PlanIt Impact. She concedes that AEC teams could find these data sources on their own. “But the time and energy that would take are considerable. What we’re providing is a low-cost and simple solution that allows teams to work together.”
She went on to say that the platform—which DRAW and its partners have been refining since 2013—“works from a project’s inception to complete. It gives building designs great options to consider all possibilities, and to know the impact of those decisions.”
PlanIt Impact Energy Model scores also translate into energy optimization points for LEED. The tool takes input from any direction and updates its scoring dynamically. PlanIt Impact supports leading software tools, including SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit.
Here’s how it can work: the team designs a building in SketchUp using the PlanIt Impact Palette. The model is imported into PlanIt Impact’s platform, and the user answers a few other questions about the project. Step 3, the user can see and manipulate the results of the sustainability scoring, and compare those results to earlier design versions. And the scoring and designs can be shared with the project’s shareholders.
DRAW Architecture developed this platform with funding from the National Science Foundation/US Ignite (which leverages networking technologies to build the foundation for smart communities), the Mozilla Foundation, and Digital Sandbox, a Kansas City-based firm that provides entrepreneurial financing.
According to PlanIt Impact’s website, a $68 monthly fee gives one user full access to the platform and a SketchUp extension. For $750 per year, one user gets full access plus one hour of training. For $2,000 per year, three users get full access and three hours of training.
Davison says that right now, PlanIt Impact is being marketed directly to AEC firms. And the company is interested in striking relationships with utilities, municipalities, and property management firms.
Related Stories
| Nov 3, 2010
Sailing center sets course for energy efficiency, sustainability
The Milwaukee (Wis.) Community Sailing Center’s new facility on Lake Michigan counts a geothermal heating and cooling system among its sustainable features. The facility was designed for the nonprofit instructional sailing organization with energy efficiency and low operating costs in mind.
| Nov 3, 2010
Seattle University’s expanded library trying for LEED Gold
Pfeiffer Partners Architects, in collaboration with Mithun Architects, programmed, planned, and designed the $55 million renovation and expansion of Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons at Seattle University. The LEED-Gold-designed facility’s green features include daylighting, sustainable and recycled materials, and a rain garden.
| Nov 3, 2010
Recreation center targets student health, earns LEED Platinum
Not only is the student recreation center at the University of Arizona, Tucson, the hub of student life but its new 54,000-sf addition is also super-green, having recently attained LEED Platinum certification.
| Nov 3, 2010
Senior housing will be affordable, sustainable
Horizons at Morgan Hill, a 49-unit affordable senior housing community in Morgan Hill, Calif., was designed by KTGY Group and developed by Urban Housing Communities. The $21.2 million, three-story building will offer 36 one-bed/bath units (773 sf) and 13 two-bed/bath units (1,025 sf) on a 2.6-acre site.
| Nov 3, 2010
Virginia biofuel research center moving along
The Sustainable Energy Technology Center has broken ground in October on the Danville, Va., campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The 25,000-sf facility will be used to develop enhanced bio-based fuels, and will house research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research space, and faculty offices. Rainwater harvesting, a vegetated roof, low-VOC and recycled materials, photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and water-saving systems, and LED light fixtures will be deployed. Dewberry served as lead architect, with Lord Aeck & Sargent serving as laboratory designer and sustainability consultant. Perigon Engineering consulted on high-bay process labs. New Atlantic Contracting is building the facility.
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
| Nov 2, 2010
11 Tips for Breathing New Life into Old Office Spaces
A slowdown in new construction has firms focusing on office reconstruction and interior renovations. Three experts from Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors offer 11 tips for office renovation success. Tip #1: Check the landscaping.
| Nov 2, 2010
Cypress Siding Helps Nature Center Look its Part
The Trinity River Audubon Center, which sits within a 6,000-acre forest just outside Dallas, utilizes sustainable materials that help the $12.5 million nature center fit its wooded setting and put it on a path to earning LEED Gold.
| Nov 2, 2010
A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold
Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.