cove.tool can be used to assist users in the following BREEAM credits.
What is BREEAM?
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a sustainability assessment method that is used to masterplan projects, infrastructure, and buildings. Launched in 1990 by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) it sets standards for the environmental performance of buildings through the design, specification, construction and operation phases and can be applied to new developments or refurbishment schemes.
The BREEAM UK New Construction Technical Manual was used identify compliant cove.tool features for achieving the following BREEAM credits.
HEA 01 - Glare, Daylight & Views
Cove.tool automates the process for a full floor Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) & Annual Solar Exposure (ASE) daylight study with highly complex models in minutes. Covetool's daylighting tool can be used to assess various parameters within BREEAM under the HEA 01 (Health and Wellbeing for Visual Comfort) category.
Control of Glare from sunlight (1 credit)
Covetool's 3D analysis page conducts Annual Solar Exposure (ASE) analysis which can be used to conduct a glare assessment of the building. The analysis calculates the percentage of space that receives too much direct sunlight (1000 Lux or more), which can cause glare or increased cooling loads.Daylighting (Up to 2 credits)
Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) describes the percent of space that receives sufficient daylight. To elaborate, sDA (Spatial Daylight Autonomy) describes the percentage of floor area that receives at least 300 lux for the annual occupied hours (8am-6pm) on the horizontal work plane (30" above the work plane). The analysis helps to identify the % of time building spaces receive minimum daylight (300 lux) annually. Space type illuminance requirements can be found in Table 5.3 here.View Out ( 1 credit)
Cove.tool as per LEED standards analyze unobstructed views located within a distance of three times the head height of vision glazing. This can be used to assess the percentage of the floor space that is close to a window and provide unobstructed views. Where the room depth is greater than 8m, the percentage of the window or opening must instead be the same as, or greater than, the values in Table 1.0 BS8206: Part 2.
ENE 01 - Reduction of Energy Use and Carbon Emissions
analysis.tool is not used directly for compliance level modeling for BREEAM. However, the tool can help by calculating its own energy baseline. Using the ISO 13790 Heat Balance Engine, prescriptive inputs from your selected energy code, industry-standard assumptions based on your building type selection, and the most local and recent climate data (weather file), analysis.tool calculates Baseline EUI, EUI breakdown, and EUI target. It's a great approach to quickly generate feedback about energy, water, carbon, and daylight performance for your design.
loadmodeling.tool can be used to calculate the energy use and carbon emissions of the project with the EnergyPlus engine. The standard EnergyPlus report available will be used for reporting.
WAT 01 - Water Consumption
Using the water consumption components method, users can compare the consumption for the assessed building against a baseline performance. Refer to table 8.3 for the outlined performance levels by component type. Users can utilize analysis.tool's indoor water use calculator to assign performance values and also assess the improvement from baseline values for each component.
The BREEAM rating systems for indoor water use reduction is on a 1 to 5 point scale and based on a %reduction threshold, as shown in the table below.
Pol 04-Reduction of Nighttime Light Pollution
Having no external lighting (which includes lighting on the building, at entrances, and signs) will help you achieve one BREEAM credit. Users can set external lighting to zero on the baseline page.
Pol 02- Local Air Quality
Under this category, up to 2 credits are obtainable if all the heating and hot water are supplied by non-combustion systems. For example, only powered by electricity. Users can select the primary energy type under the general tab on the baseline page.
Alternatively, this credit can be achieved if emissions from all installed combustion plants that provide space heating and domestic hot water do not exceed the levels set in the table below. See www.uk-air.defra.gov.uk. for location level pollution.
Further guidance on BREEAM can be obtained by referring to the technical manual - https://www.breeam.com/NC2018/content/resources/output/10_pdf/a4_pdf/print/nc_uk_a4_print_mono/nc_uk_a4_print_mono.pdf