SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — What if architects could make CAD models of their buildings that would automatically tell them how much energy structures would use at what times of day and year; where sunlight streams into rooms, and how bright it is; and how much air conditioning they need? Well, they can, within limits.

Simulation and modeling is one of the keys to a sustainable future. Otherwise progress can only happen by trial and error, which on the architectural scale is a horribly slow process. Simulating a building's energy use is a hard problem, requiring not only a model of the building and the materials that make it up (including insulation, windows, foundation, etc.) but also a model of the building's location, with the path of the sun through the year and weather data that is accurate and detailed, including humidity, wind, simple daytime-nighttime temperatures, and a host of other information. And of course, the challenges are compounded when you want to make a simulation that will work in any part of the world.

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