BIM and Sustainability

I blogged earlier about the series of articles by Terry Bennett that talks about sustainability from a civil engineering perspective and assesses the impact of building information modeling (BIM).

In the second part of his series of articles on Putting the Earth Back Into the Balance Sheet, Terry Bennett makes the point that advances in model-based technology, like BIM, using consistent, coordinated information have made sustainable design practices both practical and economically feasibl for civil engineers.  As a result, public/private partnerships are being formed around the world to create a more sustainable infrastructure.

In his final installment, Terry talks about the business benefits of a model-based design, or BIM, approach to sustainable design for civil engineers.  These include helping clients reduce material, water, open land needs and energy costs, making it easier to limit waste, minimize energy usage, and reduce the overall carbon and water footprints, limit potential liability, and help meet regulatory and certification requirements, for example LEED certitifcation.