With the rapid importance of high-performance energy modeling of buildings, whole-building energy simulation engines are rapidly used in the decision-making process. However, there are tens of engines in the market, which makes the choice of design engine very challenging. This article provides a comparison of the applications of whole-building energy simulation to predict a significant number of systems. As a result, the selected engines will be compared to establish their characteristics and abilities. Nevertheless, the focus will be placed on: generic criteria; envelope; lighting; service hot water; Heating-ventilation; and renewable systems. However, the authors found that an engine could be used extensively in one system and has limited capabilities in another system.

Globally, natural and man-made disasters continue to force the displacement of masses of people. Existing studies show that several aspects have not been integrated into constructing refugee camps and shelters to achieve sustainability, such as long lifespan, indoor thermal comfort and air quality, energy efficiency, socio-cultural aspects, integration with local planning and design systems, and environmental impact. This study integrates the above factors in six refugee core shelters, designed based on the Middle Eastern cultural context using locally available sustainable construction materials and techniques. The prototypes are situated on two different building plots, i.e., terraced and end-of-terrace, and undergo three development phases, known as the incremental improvement strategy. The study focuses on their energy and indoor environment performance and provides empirical assessments undertaken using dynamic building simulations. It shows that the adopted approach to design and construction leads to remarkable improvements in their overall performance. Concerning energy use, compared to the base case scenarios built with conventional materials, the proposed prototypes show an opportunity to save energy up to 10,000 kWh per unit per year, equivalent to almost 2500 USD savings in energy bills. This is while achieving accepted level for almost 89–94% of thermal comfort hours and 74–85% predicted mean vote (PMV), respectively. However, the CO₂ concentration level remains relatively low, ranging from 29 to 51%.

Getting the possibility to participate in an actual design process of a Hungarian national sports center is a unique chance to demonstrate and investigate the potential of the dynamic simulation supported building design research program. The research is based on synchronous energy simulations and architectural planning. Energetic and climatic simulations are made during the whole design process. All possible simulated building climate- and energy parameters of the planned versions are compared to each other. In this way it is possible continuously develop the energy and climate characteristic of the designed building. The goal is to reach an accurate design method to be able to predict and minimize the total energy needs of the building as early as the design stage. In the first phase of this process the simulation models of the plan variations are compared, which helps to locate the possible weaknesses of the proposed building geometry and structures or its setting method to develop he building structures and proposed building services systems. In the second phase the chosen building plan is optimized and quantified by final simulations.

High energy consumption is a global issue nowadays. The building sector consumes a tremendous amount of energy. Inspiration from nature (biomimicry) could be the driving force in architecture to achieve a high level of sustainability by translating biosystems into architecture. Drawing inspiration from various sources to address the challenge of the design problem, integrating the behaviour of biosystems into the building envelope could significantly influence energy performance. This paper investigates a bio-mimicry-based approach to enhancing energy efficiency in office buildings by analysing and comparing 8 projects in different climates. The result showed that the behaviour level is more applicable and functional than the organism. And ecosystem levels. Finally, the conceptual model would propose office buildings based on biomimicry strategies.