Reduce heat stress & improve liveability

ENVI-met is a three-dimensional microclimate simulation software that enables the creation of sustainable living conditions in a constantly changing environment. ENVI-met’s interactive applications can scientifically analyse the effects of different design scenarios developed by architects or urban planners.

The calculation modules of ENVI-met cover a wide range of scientific disciplines – from fluid dynamics and thermodynamics to plant physiology and soil science.

The guiding principle of ENVI-met is to integrate all these different approaches into a single model, so that all elements can interact and reproduce the observed synergies.

ENVI-met provides a highly detailed simulation of urban microclimates by modelling complex interactions between different environmental elements such as vegetation, water, building materials and airflow.

Its uniqueness lies in the way it can assess how different design scenarios affect heat stress and overall thermal comfort, going beyond simple heat measurements. The software provides detailed insights into wind speeds, pollution distribution and the physical and biological effects of urban design, such as how heat stress affects people as they move around the city.

It also models the interactions between these factors at the microscale, providing data on everything from energy storage in surfaces to the survivability of vegetation. These capabilities give actionable insights into how to design more resilient, sustainable cities that meet the needs of both the environment and its inhabitants.

ENVI-met can simulate environments of various scales — from single building blocks to entire urban areas. For larger models, a more powerful computer and increased memory are required to handle the complexity.

Although ENVI-met is designed for high-resolution simulations, the core physical principles of the model allow it to be applied to larger areas with broader grid resolutions. This makes ENVI-met suitable for some intermediate-scale or regional-scale applications, as long as the area’s characteristics can be accurately represented within the digital framework of the software. However, it does not offer mixed land use options like certain other regional-scale models. See all case studies here.

ENVI-met needs model data and weather data for its simulations. Model data can come from your designs (via QGIS, SketchUp, or Grasshopper plugins) or open data like OpenStreetMap.

For weather data, ENVI-met accepts formats such as CSV files from weather stations, EPW files, or user-created meteorological scenarios. The software uses this data to simulate interactions between built environments and microclimatic factors like temperature, humidity, and wind.

ENVI-met offers plugins for QGIS, SketchUp, and Grasshopper, making it easy to integrate into your current workflow.

ENVI-met simulates microclimate conditions, typically focusing on specific scenarios such as hot summer days in urban neighborhoods. It models these conditions on a small scale, with horizontal resolutions ranging from 1 to 10 meters and simulation periods usually lasting 1 to 5 days.

The size of the simulated area — known as the model domain — generally ranges between 50×50 and 500×500 grid cells horizontally, and 20-50 grid cells vertically. A common use case for ENVI-met would be comparing two scenarios, such as a baseline and a greened design, over a 48-hour period. For instance, a typical model might have a resolution of 3 meters and cover a 750×750 meter area, with a grid structure of 250x250x30 cells (X, Y, Z).