Determining the solar characteristics of a building from real weather data is useful across all design stages to inform passive solar studies, assess the impact of exterior and interior solar shading, and establish solar heat gains. In addition, as the design progress studies can be used to identify periods of time when daylight penetration could pose challenges such as glare, as well as inform and enhance the accuracy of any thermal, energy, carbon or light simulations.
Starting with the solar shading animation capability and the ability to take external shading and solar penetration into account within the energy/carbon simulations in the Sustainability VE-Toolkit, solar analysis capabilities progress in power as users reach VE-Gaia and VE-pro. In-depth visual, graphical and numerical studies help designers, clients and planning authorities understand the impact of the sun on the building.
