by Jbs041709 f3 — April 22, 2009—The U.S. Department of Energy has released the most recent versions of both its EnergyPlus energy modeling tool and its OpenStudio plug-in for the Google SketchUp 3-D drawing program, which allows SketchUp to work seamlessly with the EnergyPlus program.
Version 3.1.0 EnergyPlus energy simulation software, released April 13, 2009, models heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows as well as water in buildings. While originally based on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE-2, EnergyPlus includes simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour, modular systems, and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation, multizone air flow, thermal comfort, water use, natural ventilation, and photovoltaic systems.
EnergyPlus is a stand-alone simulation program without a “user-friendly” graphical interface, although a number of graphical interfaces are available or under development. The software reads input and writes output as text files.
Both EnergyPlus and OpenStudio are available on the EnergyPlus page of DOE’s Building Technologies Program Web site. That site also features a selection of benchmark models for 16 types of building in 16 locations to help designers understand the energy use of similar new buildings. The models were developed in 2008 with the help of three of DOE’s national laboratories.
