Sustainable Urban Development & Resilience
ENVI-met Software: Comprehensive Environmental Analysis
Discover the power of ENVI-met software for accurate urban climate simulation and comprehensive environmental analysis. With its advanced features and intuitive interface, ENVI-met empowers urban planners, architects, and researchers to explore the complex dynamics of urban microclimate and make informed decisions for sustainable urban development.
ENVI-met Software Suite: Enabling Sustainable Urban Simulation and Analysis
Explore ENVI-met’s powerful tools for accurate microclimate modeling and environmental analysis.
Monde
Create a digital twin of your urban system and manage all the data. Import vector data from Open Street Map or other GIS software. Export a rasterized ENVI-met INX file.
Spaces
Edit your ENVI-met model grid by grid and add advanced features such as materials or single walls. Generate the surface input files (.INX) to run the simulation.
ENVI-guide
Create new simulation configuration files (.SIMX) or edit existing files interactively. Select basic model settings and control a wide range of parameters for your ENVI-met simulation.
ENVI-core
The heart of the ENVI-met system: Run your simulations on your local computer and generate the microclimate in your model domain.
BIO-met
Simulate and evaluate human thermal comfort based on your ENVI-met simulations. Provides static thermal comfort indices (e.g. PET, SET* or UTCI) as well as the Dynamic Thermal Comfort module that allows virtual walks through the model environment.
Leonardo
Analyze your model results and create two- and three-dimensional maps and animations. LEONARDO provides a wide range of different analysis tools on an interactive basis. In addition, all modules can be accessed via Python scripts.
Database Manager
View, manage, and add different types of surface materials, compose building walls, or define the structure of a façade greening system. The Database Manager helps you keep track of the different database elements used in your ENVI-met simulation.
Albero
Albero specializes in the creation and management of complex 3D vegetation such as trees and similar structures. Edit the structure of tree crowns or generate whole trees using procedural rules such as the fractal-based Lindenmeyer system.
TreePass
Scheduled release: 2026
Calculate and simulate tree biomechanics and site conditions with centimeter resolution. TreePass assesses the site-specific risk of wind damage and analyzes local growing conditions.
Project Manager
Helps you organize your projects into different workspaces, assign different databases or define individual settings for working with ENVI-met.
Features & Scope
Solar analysis
Shadow casting
Three-dimensional solar and shadow simulations
Reflection analysis
Complex calculation of multiple reflections in the model environment
High-resolution module
Dynamic boundary conditions for the analysis of building physics
Pollutant dispersion
Air pollutants
Analysis of dispersion, transformation and deposition in urban areas
Holistic microclimate simulation
Pollutant dispersion modelling for the assessment of reactive and non-reactive gases under consideration of the microclimate
User-defined traffic emission profiles
Pollutant analysis based on customizable vehicle fleet emission factors
Building physics
Façade temperatures
High-resolution simulation of façade and wall temperatures in direct interaction with the urban climate as well as estimation of building energy consumption
Exchange processes with green roofs and façades
High-resolution modeling of vegetated surfaces and their substrates, including heat and moisture transfer, as well as their interactions with the building
Green & Blue Technologies
Vegetation modeling
Simulation of evapotranspiration, CO₂ intake and leaf temperature based on photosynthetic rate
Green wall modeling
Calculation of the radiative transfer of the vegetation layer, considering substrate layers and wall structures
Water mist simulation
Simulation of the cooling effect of fine water spray on air temperature
Wind flow
Wind speed and patterns in complex environments
Simulation of three-dimensional wind and turbulence fields
Effects on the flow field
Estimation of wind conditions at each point in the model, considering vegetation, thermal conditions and local weather
Outdoor thermal comfort
Thermal Comfort Indices
Calculation of different stationary bioclimatological Indices such as Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), SET* or Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI).
Dynamic Thermal Comfort
Simulation of biometeorological Processes and Thermal Comfort of moving pedestrians considering the constantly changing microclimatological boundary conditions.
Vegetation Analysis
Simulation of wind stress and tree damage
Illustration of the risk of mechanical damage to the branch level
Tree Site Assessment
Comprehensive analysis of microclimate growing conditions for existing or planned tree locations
Humidity
Feedback analysis
Analysis of feedback between different “Green and Blue” technologies and the microclimate model
Microclimate Model Calculations: Exploring the Comprehensive Analysis
Short- and long-wave radiation fluxes taking into account shading, multiple reflections from surfaces, buildings, and vegetation. Advanced modeling of radiative processes in plant canopies, including scatter and diffuse reflections.
Determination of evapotranspiration and sensible heat fluxes to and from the plant, including full simulation of all plant physical parameters (e.g. photosynthetic rate). Simulation of feedback processes between soil moisture and plant water stress.
Dynamic calculation of surface and wall temperatures for each facade and roof element with up to three material layers and seven dynamic calculation points in the wall. Detailed data output for advanced analysis and generation of input data for use in building energy simulation software such as Energy Plus.
Consideration of façade and roof greening in relation to all energy flows. Detailed simulation of greening systems, including construction type, substrate and plant cover properties, taking into account complex processes such as radiation transmission and reflection or evaporation from plants and substrate.
Simulation of water and heat exchange within the soil system. Three-dimensional simulation of heat transfer as a function of soil material and water content. Advanced calculation of hydraulic water exchange in the soil, including root water uptake and plant water supply.
Three-dimensional representation of trees using skeletal models to simulate biomechanical loads and deformations due to wind forces. Dynamic adjustment of seasonal effects (leafless to full canopy) including detailed simulation of radiation processes within the canopy.
Dispersion of gases and particles, considering both particulate and gaseous components. For particles, sedimentation and deposition processes on leaves and surfaces are included. Gaseous pollutants can be simulated, including photochemical transformation in the NO-NO₂-ozone reaction cycle.
Simulation of various static comfort indices such as Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), SET* or Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) using the BIO-met post-processor.
Simulation of Dynamic Thermal Comfort Calculation of transient biometeorological processes of virtual pedestrians walking through the ENVI-met model. Detailed insight into fundamental processes such as skin temperature changes, cold/warm sensations or sweat rate, taking into account the “thermal history” of the virtual pedestrian.
Comprehensive tools for managing and processing digital data, creating “digital twins”, and performing graphical analysis. Harness the power of Python to analyze and visualize data, or script your application directly from the ENVI-met interface.
Frequently Asked Questions for ENVI-met Software
Find answers to frequently asked questions about ENVI-met software in our extensive FAQ section. Whether you have questions about installation, setup, or specific features, our FAQ page provides valuable insight and troubleshooting.
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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 analyze 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.
This distinguishes ENVI-met from other modeling platforms for environmental simulation. There are many that calculate airflow between buildings or solar radiation on facades, but few that look at the complex urban environment as a single system and consider the multitude of processes that take place between elements.
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ENVI-met is a microclimate simulation software. It simulates a specific meteorological situation (e.g. hot summer days) for a specific planning scenario (generally the size of a neighborhood). The horizontal resolution is typically 1-10 m, with simulated periods ranging from 1 to 5 days.
The size of the model domain is typically between 50×50 and 500×500 grid cells horizontally and 20-50 grid cells vertically. A very typical application would be a comparison of two scenarios (base case versus a greened case), both analyzed within a 48 hour period, and a model domain size of 250x250x30 grid cells (X, Y, Z) at 3 m resolution, resulting in a 750×750 m domain.
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ENVI-met can calculate environments of various sizes – from individual building blocks to entire urban areas. However, larger models require a more powerful computer and more memory.
ENVI-met is based on physical equations and is designed for high resolution simulations. However, the basic physics of the model should work for much larger areas and coarser grid resolutions. Therefore, ENVI-met can also be used for mesoscale models. The prerequisite for this is that the characteristics of the area can be represented within the digital model area concept used in ENVI-met (for example, there are no mixed land use options in ENVI-met as there are in some mesoscale models).
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As mentioned in the previous question, ENVI-met is designed for microclimatic analysis. While some building variables can be calculated, ENVI-met is not recommended for Building Performance Simulation (BPS) analysis. However, with some effort, ENVI-met simulations can be run for a full year and these results can be used to support BPS.
ENVI-met can export text files describing the microclimate along selected buildings. These files can be used directly in other building energy simulation (BES) software such as Energy Plus.
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Yes, ENVI-met can be run on cloud services if Windows can be used as the operating system.
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Theoretically yes, but it will probably run much slower in a virtualized environment. It would be better to create a partition on the hard drive to install Windows if ENVI-met simulations are needed on that computer. Another option would be to run the simulation in a cloud service.
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Yes, with the Science, City and Enterprise licenses you can run parallel simulations and thus significantly reduce the simulation time.
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Yes, if the system has enough RAM and CPU cores are available for this purpose.
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Yes and no. On the one hand ENVI-met is a typical Windows program, on the other hand it has certain system requirements (e.g. ENVI-met uses RAM permanently for reading and writing during a simulation).
In parallel mode, ENVI-met also uses all the CPU power it can get, but still allows other programs to run. However, the computer may be slower for other tasks. ENVI-met may appear to be frozen or “not responding”, but it is actively working in the background.
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There are many documents and video tutorials on our website that are updated regularly. You can also use our support center to exchange ideas with other users.
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Computing power depends primarily on CPU speed and the number of cores. More cores and faster CPU will allow faster simulations. RAM requirements will increase with future versions of ENVI-met, and computers with limited memory may be limited in the size of the model domain. Simulation performance does not depend on the graphics card as all calculations are performed by the CPU.
The amount of disk space required depends mainly on the application. An average 48 hour simulation of a large model domain may require about 100 GB. Since several scenarios are usually simulated for comparison, disk space may be a limitation if there is no other space available to store the simulation results.CPU: Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 10 64-bit or higher
VIDEO CARD: No specific requirements
FREE DISK SPACE: more than 10 GB -
CPU: Modern 6- or 8-core CPU, Intel i5-8400 – or higher
Ryzen 5 1600X or better
RAM: 32 GB or more
OS: Windows 11 (64bit) or higher
VIDEO CARD: No specific requirements
FREE DISK SPACE: more than 100 GB -
CPU: Modern 16-core or higher CPU
Intel i9-7960 – Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX or higher
RAM: 64-128 GB
OS: Windows 10 (64bit) or higher
VIDEO CARD: No specific requirements
FREE DISK SPACE: more than 500GB