Sustainability
Autodesk solutions for Digital Prototyping allow designers, manufacturers and engineers to design more sustainably by reducing the amount of physical prototypes required for a project, or eliminating the need for them entirely.
The Building Information Modeling (BIM) capabilities of Autodesk software help the architect, engineering and construction (AEC) industry create more sustainable buildings and optimize building performance. Autodesk took Graphisoft's ArchiCAD's earlier Virtual Building concept from 1987 and has continued to develop it as Building Information Modelling since around 2003. Widespread BIM adoption is a more recent phenomenon.
Autodesk's Simulation CFD includes a range of CFD modeling and thermal modeling tools for architectural and MEP applications. Common applications for environmental sustainable design include mechanical ventilation, external flow (wind loading), natural ventilation, and occupant comfort. Other energy applications include analysis for building energy, solar load, advanced energy and heating and cooling.
The Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program provides design and engineering software to early-stage clean technology companies in North America and Europe, helping to accelerate development of solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Each year, Autodesk gives hundreds of clean tech companies $150,000 worth of software to cut start-up costs. Pi Mobility is a clean tech partner of Autodesk’s. Using digital prototyping software to build the company’s bike, it realized one of the frame components could be cut by a half-inch, saving Pi Mobility more than $300,000 in production costs.
The Autodesk Sustainability Workshop is a free on-line tutorial that covers sustainable design concepts such as light-weighting and whole systems thinking. These videos instruct viewers how to make sustainable design decisions early in the design process. It is aimed at students, “giving them easy access to free digital content that can supplement traditional engineering education.”
Autodesk introduced C-FACT, an open-source, science-driven approach to setting greenhouse gas reduction targets, which calls for greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions to be made in proportion to a company’s gross domestic product (GDP). Unlike other carbon accounting methods, Autodesk’s C-FACT measures carbon dioxide emissions that are proportional to a company’s global GDP contribution. Autodesk will derive its own targets using this approach through 2020.
Through the use of telepresence, Autodesk has reduced its travel by 16 percent in three years as part of its overall carbon emissions reduction strategy.
In 2006 Autodesk sponsored a PBS program named e2 Design, which focused on going green in building designs around the world. Narrated by Brad Pitt, viewers learn about the leaders and technologies driving sustainable design.
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