To help me continue with my pursuit for high performance, I have decided to begin my research by looking at what  tools are currently being used by industry professionals to evaluate performance. Many of these analytical tools I have worked with personally (at previous employment positions) while others I have only seen or heard of from people who have experience using them. My goal as a student of architecture will be to research and experiment with as many of these tools as possible. This will allow me to develop a greater understanding of what these tools can do and how I can potentially implement them into my design process. In future posts I will be going into further detail of what I have learned and possibly explaining how they can be utilized in conjunction with one another.

The following is a list of some of the current simulation tools being used by professionals:

Energy Analysis
eQuest the quick energy simulation tool
EnergyPro Title 24 compliant energy analysis software
EnergyPlus Energy analysis software
DesignBuilder Building simulation made easy

Performance Modeling
IES Virtual Environment Building Performance Modeling
Autodesk® Ecotect® Building Analysis for designers

Lighting & Daylighting
AGi32 Lighting design software
Radiance Synthetic imaging system
DAYSIM Dynamic Daylight Simulations
DIALux Light Building Software

Web Based Service 
Autodesk® Green Building Studio®