In early June 2008, Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) released VE-Ware, a free software download that allows building industry professionals to compare projected performance of their designs to green building benchmarks set by the Architecture 2030 Challenge, which aims to cut energy consumption in all new buildings and major renovations 50 percent by 2010.

Glasgow-based IES develops thermal analysis software used by the majority of engineers and architects to evaluate the energy needs, use and efficiency of their designs. The company began selling its software stateside five years ago and partnered with Autodesk 18 months ago to integrate its software into the Revit design package.

IES has created VE-Ware as a free tool that will help building industry professionals gauge their current progress; for more in-depth analysis, they'll need to purchase software from the company or through Autodesk. The VE-Ware tool will initially be compatible only with CAD data produced by Autodesk's Revit package, but IES says it is working to make it accessible to all, irrespective of location or vendor.

Kevin Settlemyre, director of North American operations at IES says the free software tool is something the company hopes will get building professionals more engaged with the integrated design process early on. “People talk about integrated design a lot, but a lot of people still base decisions on decisions they made for a previous project,” Settlemyre says. “The VE-Ware tool will let them look at specifics based on climate and the building itself, and designers will be able to quickly see that if they did one thing or another it will either improve the building’s performance or result in more energy consumption.”

In addition to analyzing energy consumption, VE-Ware also measures carbon emissions, which the software calculates based on international climate data and typical characteristics of different building, room and system types. Although a simple gauge, VE-Ware could be increasingly useful to architects and facilities managers in the emerging carbon market.

“A lot of what shaped the free tool was feedback from users who wanted things simplified so they could point to one specific thing in the design, and Edward Mazria [founder of Architecture 2030] was another driver,” says Settlemyre. “He made a lot of speeches about how he’d love to be able to hit one button and get carbon output for the whole building.”