Building better buildings while pursing low carbon strategies was the focus of the 2022 Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild, co-organized by ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA.

The two-and-a-half-day conference, held from September 14-16 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago included keynotes, paper sessions, seminars, vendor demonstrations, panel discussions and debates from more than 100 presenters. The conference drew 265 building industry professionals in addition to a strong virtual audience.

"The transition to low-carbon building solutions is presenting our industry with a significant opportunity to share practical outcomes of modeling and simulation strategies that come out of the Building Performance Analysis Conference on a wider scale," said 2022-23 ASHRAE Treasurer Dennis Knight, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE. "We all benefited from the collective expertise of this year's conference presenters and the focus on 'better buildings, less carbon' is at the core of how to proactively tackle the challenges of achieving sustainability and establish climate-friendly, integrated building systems to serves all people."

Keynote sessions featured presentations from Luke Leung, P.E. and Amber Mahone on whole life carbon and integrated energy systems.

 Top In-Person Sessions

• Seminar 2: Modeling Existing Buildings
• Panel 2: Fishbowl Session
• Paper Session 9: Lifecycle Carbon Assessment

 Top Livestreamed Sessions

• Seminar 16: Advances in Modeling Tools, Approaches and Workflows III
• Seminar 10: Approaches to Modeling Future Weather, Climate and Extreme Events II
• Paper Session 9: Lifecycle Carbon Assessment

For the first time, three interactive programs were offered to encourage attendee participation. Participants discussed modeling-related issues such as carbon, renewables, weather data and risk assessment/uncertainty.

In conjunction with the conference, the LowDown Showdown modeling team competition was held. The competition is designed to engage architects, engineers, designers and energy modelers by working on integrated teams in the creation of outstanding designs that solve in real-world building efficiency challenges.

This year's competition asked teams to design a K-5 school in Albuquerque, NM to serve 450 students in an educational setting that provides appropriate spaces for elementary education as well as community uses—and can be adapted to future challenges and changes.

First place was awarded to team "Zero Heroes." See the team's complete project overview on the 2022 ASHRAE LowDown Showdown Modeling Challenge webpage.

All sessions will be recorded and posted for on-demand viewing within 72 hours of the originally scheduled session. Presentations will remain available online for approximately 12 months after the conference has taken place.

ASHRAE remained committed to the health and safety of conference attendees. In addition to strongly recommending mask wearing while indoors, ASHRAE provided complimentary COVID-19 testing to international travelers requiring a negative test to return to their countries of origin. ASHRAE's Commitment to Care document explains health and safety measures the Society implemented for attendees before, during and after the conference.

The 2023 Building Performance Analysis Conference will take place in Fall 2023. Visit ASHRAE's Topical Conferences page for updates.