Exton-based Bentley Systems, a leading developer of software used worldwide for building design, construction, and operations, introduced its Energy Performance software series to the North American market this week. The software tools allow architects and other building specialists to simulate the performance of designs against the world’s most rigorous criteria for energy conservation and other key factors in sustainable building.
The software is widely used in Great Britain, where sustainable design is backed by rigorous government certification and broadly implemented industry standards. The North American version of the series tracks closely to design standards for LEED certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Noah Eckhouse, Bentley’s vice president for Building Performance.
Announced by teleconference Tuesday with simultaneous presentation on the web, the software was introduced as a product–two powerful simulators and an engine for mechanical design–that will not only provide architects on this side of the Atlantic with more robust tools to meet sustainability goals but also put claims for sustainability to more rigorous testing.
Without robust tools for simulation, the promise of high performance from green design is not being achieved in the construction of a surprising number of buildings, Eckhouse said. “There’s a lot of green-washing going on.”
With worldwide sales of more than $500 million through a presence of some 2,800 colleagues on staff in more than 50 countries (517 in Exton), Bentley provides software that architects and engineers have used in the creation of some of the world’s most distinctive buildings, including signature structures for the Beijing Summer Games and the new Tabor Tower, which is designed to dominate the London skyline upon completion in 2011. While declining to state a target for market penetration of the Energy Performance series in North America, Huw Roberts, global marketing director, said that 70 percent of British architectural and engineering firms use the tools.
With sustainable design increasingly demanded in North America, he expects these tools to gain wide acceptance here as well.
Source: Bentley Systems, Noah Eckhouse, Jim Barr, Huw Roberts
Writer: Joseph Plummer
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