Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), the world’s leading provider of Building Performance Analysis tools to the building design and refurbishment industry, recently launched a plug-in to Google SketchUp, a free, easy-to-learn 3D design tool from Google. This plug-in links directly to IES’s free VE-Ware tool which accurately determines the Energy Use and associated Carbon Dioxide Emissions for any building, in any part of the world. 

This exciting new development means that anyone can pick up these FREE tools and start analysing how their home, office or school performs. VE-Ware’s calculation engine is part of the IES <Virtual Environment>, which is an industry respected building performance analysis tool used by the world’s top architectural and engineering firms in the design of low-energy buildings (version 5.9 recently announced with major developments). The calculations are based on real geometry, international data on local climate and weather conditions and the typical characteristics of different building, room and heating and cooling system types, reveals the company’s press release.

Dr Don McLean, the Founder and MD of IES, commented: “VE-Ware and our link to Google SketchUp gives everyone the capability to get involved and really opens the door wide to the incredible mitigation potential building performance analysis offers.” John Bacus, Product Manager of Google SketchUp, commented: “IES is plugging a set of energy analysis tools into SketchUp at just the right level of complexity— enabling designers to think not just about how a building might look, but also how it will perform in a sustainable world.”