The “BIM's 4D+” dimension: Real time energy monitoring

With the current trend towards Building Information Model (BIM), facility managers have a new tool for raising efficiency. This paper discusses the integration of the BIM software with a real-time monitoring (RTM) system, as a 4D+ dimension in BIM, to track the electrical usage at every location in a building. This ability could be invaluable in identifying what unnecessary loads are connected to a device and could be disconnected. This would result in elimination of needless loads and phantom loads during non-business hours, causing significant reduction in energy consumption. A prototype of the RTM was built and the results are in support of reduction in energy consumption. Real-time awareness is a major factor in facility management and essential to meet the strict guidelines presently being adopted.