Transforming BIM to BEM: Generation of Building Geometry for the NASA Ames Sustainability Base BIM

Typical processes of whole Building Energy simulation Model (BEM) generation are subjective, labor
intensive, time intensive and error prone. Essentially, these typical processes reproduce already existing
data, i.e. building models already created by the architect. Accordingly, Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (LBNL) developed a semi-automated process that enables reproducible conversions of
Building Information Model (BIM) representations of building geometry into a format required by
building energy modeling (BEM) tools. This is a generic process that may be applied to all building
energy modeling tools but to date has only been used for EnergyPlus.