Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Energy Simulation
I
n the last five years, commercial thermal and visual comfort requirements, Technological advancements in computer
buildings are emerging as one of internal heat gains, etc. For example, a software have provided several tools that can
the fastest growing sectors in India. designer may decide to have large glazed help the designers to predict and analyze
This phenomenon, combined with the façade for better aesthetic value and to the energy performance of a building
expectations to create more comfortable increase the amount of daylight coming with good accuracy and with substantial
indoor environmental conditions, is placing in the building. This can lead to reduced reduction in effort. Such programs allow for
increasing energy demand on the already lighting load but may increase the cooling sensitivity analysis of various design options
stretched supply side infrastructure. The load on Heating Ventilation and Air- and decisions—from the conceptual and
energy performance of a building depends conditioning (HVAC) system due to higher schematic phases to the detailed specification
on how a building has been designed from heat gains through glazing. In real practice, of building components and systems (See
an energy efficiency perspective and how understanding and analyzing the total energy Fig. 1).
well system integration issues have been performance of the building is very complex These computer-based energy simulation
addressed. The way a building behaves and and the building designers find it extremely programs model the thermal, visual,
performs is governed through envelope difficult to establish energy performance with ventilation and other energy-consuming
design (walls, windows, roofs, etc.), choices reasonable accuracy through conventional processes taking place within the building
made in selecting building materials, and computation methods. Usually “rules of to predict its energy performance. The
design and selection of energy systems thumb” deployed by consultants and the simulation program takes into account the
(lighting, cooling, heating, ventilation, “expert advice” of equipment suppliers building geometry and orientation, building
etc.) to meet the thermal and visual play a major role in selecting and sizing the materials being used, building façade design
comforts of occupants and other working building components and systems. This may and characteristics, weather parameters,
requirements. not be the most effective way to design large indoor environmental conditions, occupant
A building interacts with its external complex commercial buildings and may lead activities and schedules, HVAC and lighting
as well as internal environment. A good to poor energy performance throughout the system and a other parameters to analyze
building designer needs to account for the life of the building. Just like prevention is and predict the energy performance of the
external factors such as air temperature, better than cure, it is easier and more cost- buildings (See Table 1).
humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and effective to incorporate energy-efficient Certain energy simulation programs are
direction, etc., which may vary significantly issues at the time of new construction than designed to work for individual building
throughout the year, and balance it with through a retrofit process. components such as wall, roof, building
Area Lights 5.53 5.24 6.05 6.04 5.53 6.04 6.05 5.79 5.78 5.79 5.26 6.05 69.16
Misc. Equipment 7.58 7.04 7.99 7.87 7.58 7.87 7.99 7.79 7.67 7.79 7.27 7.99 92.43
Ventilation Fans 1.61 1.53 1.77 1.77 1.61 1.77 1.77 1.69 1.69 1.69 1.53 1.77 20.17
Space Cooling 0.62 0.96 1.16 2.22 3.13 5.72 7.23 7.37 6.96 5.10 2.32 0.86 43.66
Total 15.34 14.77 16.97 17.9 17.85 21.4 23.04 22.64 22.22 20.37 15.38 16.67 225.42
35%
35%
240 30%
Spectrally 25%
Selective 20%
225 20% 16%
15%
11%
Linear 10% 7%
5%
210 (Standard 5% 3%
1% 1% 1% 1%
low-e) 0%
ds
ple
g
ad
ad
175
n
d
n
tin
n
on
oa
t io
lo a
Linear
t io
oa
t io
Lo
o
Lo
cti
Pe
gh
gL
uc
rL
uc
uc
la r
(Spectrally
on
i on
du
nd
Li
nd
ol a
P lu
nd
So
at i
on
Co
Co
Selective)
r at
Co
tS
180
ow
tC
til
filt
a ll
gh
of
ow
i nd
40 60 80 100
gh
W
Ro
yli
Ve
In
i nd
yli
Sk
Table 4: Modeling requirements for ECBC (Source: Energy Conservation Building Code, Revised Version May 2008)
All components of the building envelope in the proposed design The standard design shall have identical conditioned floor area and
shall be modeled as shown on architectural drawings or as identical exterior dimensions and orientations as the proposed design,
installed for existing building envelopes. except as noted in (a), (b), (c), and (d) below.
Exceptions: The following building elements are permitted to a) Orientation: The baseline building performance shall be generated
differ from architectural drawings. by simulating the building with its actual orientation and again
• Any envelope assembly that covers less than 5% of the total after rotating the entire building 90, 180, and 270 degrees, then
area of that assembly type (e.g., exterior walls) need not be averaging the results. The building shall be modeled so that it does
separately described. If not separately described, the area not shade itself.
of an envelope assembly must be added to the area of the
adjacent assembly of that same type. b) Opaque assemblies such as roof, floors, doors, and walls shall be
• Exterior surfaces whose azimuth orientation and tilt differ by modeled as having the same heat capacity as the proposed design
Building no more than 45 degrees and are otherwise the same may be but with the minimum U-factor required in § 4.3.1 and § 4.3.2.
Envelope described as either a single surface or by using multipliers.
c) Fenestration: Fenestration areas shall equal that in the proposed
• For exterior roofs other than roofs with ventilated attics, design or 40% of gross above grade wall area, whichever is smaller,
the reflectance and emittance of the roof surface shall be and shall be distributed uniformly in horizontal bands across the
modeled. The reflectance and emittance shall be tested in four orientations. No shading projections are to be modeled;
accordance with § 4.3.1.1. fenestration shall be assumed to be flush with the exterior wall or
• Manually operated fenestration shading devices such as blinds roof. Manually operated fenestration shading devices such as blinds
or shades shall not be modeled. Permanent shading devices or shades shall not be modeled. Fenestration U-factor shall be the
such as fins, overhangs, and lightshelves shall be modeled. minimum required for the climate, and the solar heat gain coefficient
shall be the maximum allowed for the climate and orientation.
d) Roof albedo: All roof surfaces shall be modeled with a reflectivity
of 0.30.
Lighting power in the proposed design shall be determined as
follows:
• Where a complete lighting system exists, the actual lighting
power shall be used in the model. Lighting power in the standard design shall be determined using the
same categorization procedure (building area or space function) and
• Where a lighting system has been designed, lighting power
categories as the proposed design with lighting power set equal to
shall be determined in accordance with either § 7.3.2 or
the maximum allowed for the corresponding method and category
Lighting § 7.3.3.
in either § 7.3.2 or § 7.3.3. Power for fixtures not included in the
• Where no lighting exists or is specified, lighting power lighting power density calculation shall be modeled identically in the
shall be determined in accordance with the § 7.3.2 for the proposed design and standard design. Lighting controls shall be the
appropriate building type. minimum required.
• Lighting system power shall include all lighting system com-
ponents shown or provided for on plans (including lamps,
ballasts, task fixtures, and furniture-mounted fixtures).
The HVAC system type and all related performance parameters
in the proposed design, such as equipment capacities and ef-
ficiencies, shall be determined as follows:
• Where a complete HVAC system exists, the model shall
reflect the actual system type using actual component
capacities and efficiencies.
• Where an HVAC system has been designed, the HVAC
model shall be consistent with design documents. Mechani-
cal equipment efficiencies shall be adjusted from actual de-
HVAC sign conditions to the standard rating conditions specified in The HVAC system type and related performance parameters for the
§ 5, if required by the simulation model. standard design shall be determined from Table § 10.2. Equipment
Systems
performance shall meet the requirements of § 5.
• Where no heating system exists or no heating system has
been specified, the heating system shall be modeled as electric
resistance. The system characteristics shall be identical to the
system modeled in the standard design.
• Where no cooling system exists or no cooling system has
been specified, the cooling system shall be modeled as an
air-cooled single-zone system, one unit per thermal block.
The system characteristics shall be identical to the system
modeled in the standard design.
Simulation Programs
Types of Programs Lumen Designer’s user-friendly inter- with heat balance-based zone simulation,
• Simplified programs for overall energy face can create all types of architectural multi-zone air flow, thermal comfort,
consumption assessment, peak temperature spaces quickly and accurately. Moreover, and photovoltaic systems. EnergyPlus
prediction, heating/cooling loads it can develop a schema for the space is a stand-alone simulation program
calculations quickly with automated routines. It has without a “user friendly” graphical
• Sophisticated programs for hourly an industry-wide product database and a interface. EnergyPlus reads input and
simulation of heat, light and air movement library of realistic objects and materials. writes output as text files.
• Complex specialist packages for day lighting It renders the space photo-realistically DesignBuilder provides a user-
and artificial lighting, computational for visualization and provides extensive friendly interface to model the geometric
fluid dynamics (CFD) for ventilation output, photo-realistic renderings and spaces. It can export data for further
& air movement study, two-and three- DXF/DWG import/export. analysis that can be done in EnergyPlus.
dimensional heat conduction calculations, Radiance is highly accurate ray- Other programs like eQUEST and Visual
and moisture migration within the building tracing software. It is used for the DOE are also used to run the DOE-2
components analysis and visualization of lighting in simulation engine to perform energy
design. The input files to the program calculations. The Energy Design Plugin
Available Software specify the scene geometry, materials, is a free plugin for the Google SketchUp
Programs luminaries, time, date and sky conditions 3D drawing program. The plugin makes
The majority of the programs that are (for daylight calculations). Simulation it easy to create and edit the building
available, focus on a single aspect (such results may be displayed as color images, geometry in EnergyPlus input files. The
as HVAC, fenestrations, or lighting) of numerical values and contour plots. The plugin also allows the designer to launch
energy efficiency. A limited number of primary advantage of Radiance over EnergyPlus simulations and view the
programs handle multiple aspects of a other lighting programs is that there are results without leaving SketchUp.
building design through an integrated no limitations on the geometry or the ECOTECT can calculate heating
approach. The popular programs among materials that may be simulated. and cooling loads for models with
the architects and building designers Another program, ECOTECT, has a any number of zones or any type of
perform simulations that one needs for CAD interface and can easily export the geometry. One can assign detailed
designing efficient buildings. model to Radiance for photo-realistic material properties to all objects as well
rendering. as annual hourly operational schedules
Popular Simulation to occupancy, internal gains, infiltration,
Programs Whole Building Simulation Programs and individual items of equipment.
EnergyPlus is a building energy simulation ECOTECT’s ability to predict energy
Lighting Programs program for modeling building heating, performance of complex buildings may
Designer can use lighting design and cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other not be on par with EnergyPlus and
simulation software to model the space energy flows. It builds on the most DOE2 but it is a great concept design
and simulate to analyze its performance popular features and capabilities of tool to determine solar exposure and
over a specified period. These software BLAST and DOE-2 but also includes penetration studies, façade optimization
generate photo-realistic images, as well many innovative simulation capabilities and visualization.
as conduct a luminance or illuminance such as time steps of less than an hour,
analysis on a grid of points. modular systems and plant integrated
www.eere.energy.gov/
Web link gundog.lbl.gov
buildings/energyplus
Sketch-Up (free), Visual DOE,
Front-end User Interface Design Builder EZDOE,
(commercial) eQuest
1. How do I select appropriate software? training and/or supervision. the client, design and the modeling
• Evaluate the objectives of the client Architects, Civil Engineers, team. Based on past experience,
and the design team and the level Mechanical or Electrical engineers energy savings can typically range
of analysis needed since different with sound building physics anywhere from 10% to 50%.
programs/software can be employed background and basic understanding
for different outcomes. of lighting and HVAC systems 5. Can one use CAD or BIM drawings
• Make a decision based on the cost are well-suited to learning energy for energy simulation work?
(academic Vs. commercial licens- simulation programs. One can use DXF format to import
ing), capability, type and sophistica- building geometry in some energy
tion of the interface (both for input 3. What if weather file for the city simulation software.
and output), and after-sales support. where project is located is not Almost all CAD/BIM software offer
“Open Source” software is easily available? export to DXF facility.
available and generally free of cost. Use nearby station/city not more than
• See Table 5 2 latitude or 2 longitude (250 kms 6. Where can one get the building
apart) and within 100m altitude of materials database required for
2. What kind of background and how the actual city location; energy modeling and simulation?
much time is needed to learn energy 58 cities from India are available at: • ECBC Annexure
simulation? h t t p : // w w w . e e r e . e n e r g y. g o v / • National Building Code
Basic exposure and awareness of the buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_ • Centre Building Research Institute
capabilities of the software can be d at a 3.c f m /reg ion=2 _ a sia _w mo _ • ASHRAE Fundamentals Handbook
achieved in three days – but rigorous region_2/country=IND/cname=India
practice and advance knowledge about 7. What are reasonable heat generation
building load calculation, HVAC 4. What range of savings can be levels for lighting, people, and
system sizing and controls, lighting expected from energy simulation? equipment (including computers)?
design and controls, interpreting output This will depend on many factors • People: 10 to 15 W/sqm
and developing design optimization including the base building, resources • Lighting: 5 to 20 W/sqm
strategy can take up to 6-9 months of available, knowledge and expertise of • Plug Loads: 10 to 30 W/sqm
same orientation, or their orientations must tenants will determine the zoning of spaces as the ground floor, must be zoned
be within 45 degrees of each other. This in the building. Things to consider are: separately from zones that are not
ensures that they have the same solar heat exposed to ambient conditions, such
gain characteristics. This is not to say that 1. Separate interior and perimeter as intermediate (typical) floor in a
zones may not have two or more glazing spaces: If the HVAC zones are not yet multi-story building.
orientations (a corner office could easily designed, then assign separate thermal
have two), but that zones must have similar zone to interior spaces located more Resources
orientations. It would be acceptable, for than 15 feet from an exterior wall and • ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 140 (2004),
example, to group all of the northeast comer to perimeter spaces within 15 feet of 1791 Tullie Circle, N. E., Atlanta, GA
offices on the intermediate floors of an office the exterior. 30329, USA (http://www.ashrae.org).
tower into a single thermal block. • ASHRAE 90.1 User’s Manual (1999),
• All of the HVAC zones must be served 2. Separate orientations with glazing: 1791 Tullie Circle, N. E., Atlanta, GA
either by the same HVAC system or by Glazed exterior walls should be assigned to 30329, USA (http://www.ashrae.org).
the same kind of HVAC system. Thus, a different perimeter thermal zone for each • Energy Conservation Building Code,
the simulation program can accurately major orientation. Orientations within 45 Ministry of Power, India, Revised
model the performance of the systems. degrees of each other may be combined. Version, May 2008.
• Energy Efficiency Manual, by Donald R.
The configuration of the thermal zones 3. Separate top, bottom, and middle Wulfinghoff, Energy Institute Press.
must be assumed if the HVAC system floors: Spaces exposed to ambient • US Department of Energy (2008):
is not designed at the time of simulation conditions, such as the top floor or Building Technologies Program Web
modeling. This situation is quite common an overhanging floor, and spaces Site (http://www.eere.energy.gov/
in commercial buildings where the future in contact with the ground, such buildings/programs_directory)