A Framework of Decision Support System from BIM to Digital Twin Aiming Zero Energy Buildings

In buildings that have a large share of the world’s total energy consumption, reducing carbon emissions and zero energy building targets have become increasingly important in recent years. The most important problems in providing energy efficiency in building design are the difficulty in integrating energy efficient design tools into the design processes and the need for extra labor and time. Rapidly developing technology and digitalization processes create new advantages in zero energy building targets. However, there is not enough information about how to integrate these new technologies into zero energy design and operation processes. Therefore, in this study, the zero-energy building target is discussed in the context of BIM, generative design and digital twin, which are important technological thresholds for the building sector. The concept of zero-energy building and literature examined, zero-energy building parameters and strategies are determined, the concept of BIM and its use in zero energy buildings are discussed. In addition, the integration of generative design into BIM and energy efficient design is studied. In the last stage, the potential and usage areas of building digital twin technologies were investigated and their integration into zero energy building and BIM processes was enquired. As a result, through the information obtained from research, a decision support system framework consisting of four steps, based on the use and integration of current technologies that can contribute to zero energy building design and operation processes towards the aim of zero energy building, developed and presented.