Architecture and buildings are identified as being of major importance in reducing the intensity of global warming and ameliorating the impacts on humanity. Existing research shows that the most important decisions occur at the earlier stages of design, having the greatest impact on the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of the building. Architecture firms are required to produce more energy efficient buildings. The three emerging concepts of Building Information Modeling (BIM), Building Energy Simulation (BES) and Integrated Design Process (IDP) provide a new opportunity to address the challenges of achieving sustainable communities and ameliorating the impacts of global warming.Download