EYP has long been committed to high-performance building design, and incorporating energy modeling into every project is part of what helped the firm secure the top spot in sustainability for the second year in a row. Tom Birdsey, AIA, EYP’s president and CEO, calls it “day one thinking.”

“We don’t let a building get to schematic design and then bring on energy modelers to analyze performance,” he says. “We have the energy modeler working hand-in-hand with the design team from the start.”

The firm uses proprietary software called NEO (Net Energy Optimizer), which assesses the implications for everything from massing to orientation to material choice. “We can sit with a set of plans with the owner or operator and analyze different bundles of materials, control systems, mechanical systems, glazing. In real time, the software can analyze how that bundle of materials performs against other bundles.”

Source: www.ecobuildingpulse.com