Ways To More Effectively Use Revit For Electrical Design - Real-time Energy Code Calculations

Sep 26, 2026

Upload by Asher

Training session on using Revit to improve electrical design workflows, especially for energy code calculations. It addresses replacing manual spreadsheet and highlighted-drawing processes with schedule-driven, real-time updates for architects, engineers, and lighting consultants. The discussion covers coordinating disciplines via schedules, performing load checks, identifying problematic spaces, and staying within ASHRAE tradeable allowances. It also explains model-linking constraints when mechanical and plumbing are in external models and how this impacts data exchange.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

Class Opening and Audience

Participant Roles

Speaker Background and Project Context

Revit Experience and Typical Project Sizes

Class Goals and Expected Outcomes

Energy Code Calculations with Schedules

Cross-Discipline Coordination

Load Checks and Uncircuited Items

Modeling Approach and Data-Exchange Challenges

Separate Discipline Models

Linking Mechanical and Plumbing

Traditional Energy Code Workflow Pain Points

Spreadsheet and Highlighting Delays

Design Changes and Rework

Real-time Schedule-Based Calculation Method

Replacing Highlighters and Static Counts

Problem Spaces and Tradeable Allowances

Core Revit Mindset: Data-Driven Modeling

Fixtures as Rich Data Objects

PRESENTER: Good morning. I' m excited we've all made it to day three and we' re all awake at 8 :00 AM. You are in Ways To More Effectively Use Revit For Electrical Design. So if you've not had your coffee yet and you' re in the wrong class , please feel free to go ahead and get up , and go find the class that you intended to be in this morning. Before we dive in I want to kind of get a feel for who we have in the room . So how many BIM managers , coordinators , do I have? OK. How many electrical design engineers , technicians? OK. Any other mechanical, or plumbing staff in here? OK. So we've got a pretty good variety. So a little bit about me. I' m a licensed engineer- -electrical engineer for Jacobs Engineering. I've been working in Revit since 2007. So for those of you who have just gotten into Revit , it is light-years ahead of where it used to be in the 2007-8 time frame. And one of the other things that I typically find in a lot of classes is that presenters give this great presentation but they've done it on like , a 10 ,000 square foot building. And I' m like , a 10 ,000 square foot building does me no good because most of my projects are bigger than that. So all of the examples given in this presentation are done on a 250 ,000 square foot airport terminal. It's been done on a million square foot airport terminal. I've done it on some high rise office buildings as well. So this is a tried method used on larger projects. I've worked in Revit on everything from aviation , to office buildings , to entertainment , to specialty-type buildings. And then I've also served as the BIM consultant for some of the same projects. So this is the class summary that you read whenever you signed up for the class. I' m not going to make you read it again , nor am I going to read it to you , but I am required to have it in the presentation. But today I hope that when we all walk out of the room that we' re going to be able to use schedules to perform our energy code calculations , that we' re going to be able to better coordinate between disciplines with schedules , that we' re going to be able to do some load checks with our schedules , and that we' re going to be able to catch some of our uncircuited items as well. Now one other item to note. In my firm , we typically have every discipline in separate models. Where the projects just get too large to have all of MEP in the same model. So all of these examples are done assuming that mechanical and plumbing are in external models being linked in. That causes some unique situations because as of right now we can't really transfer a lot of data across the link very well. So here , we've been trying to think outside of the box on how to improve that until Autodesk finds a way for us to actually get the data back and forth. So let's dive into the energy code calculations. For those of you who have been in the business a while you' ll remember that this is what our energy code calculation typically looks like. You can do a spreadsheet. It's going to have this list of all of the light fixtures , the types. You can be pulling out all the cut sheets , looking up the wattages , but then you've got this tension. When do I actually stop and do the energy code calculation? Because in this method--typically for projects you commandeer a conference room , you printout all the drawings , and you highlight it. You find your favorite colors of highlighter and you sit down and it takes two or three days. And the question is , well when do I stop and do that? Because the architect and the lighting consultant want the data real time. They want to know, hey , are we doing good? And for us , we've got to stop and take time out of our design to do the counts. Now maybe , you work with architects and lighting designers who get it right on the first try. I , myself , have not been so lucky. There's been substantial changes and reworks in the design. And so you do the count , and then t

FAQs

How does the session replace the traditional energy code calculation workflow?

It uses Revit schedules to generate real-time energy code data directly from the model, avoiding manual spreadsheet lookups and highlighted drawings.

Why are schedules important for cross-discipline coordination in this approach?

Schedules provide up-to-date information that architects and lighting consultants can use in real time, helping teams confirm whether the design is on track without waiting days for manual counts.

What is the key challenge when mechanical and plumbing are modeled externally and linked?

The session notes that data transfer across model links is limited, creating unique situations that require workarounds until better back-and-forth data exchange is available.

Sep 26, 2026

Upload by Asher