by jbs101309 j3 — October 16, 2009—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has updated OpenStudio, NREL’s easy-to-use, free software tool that seamlessly combines the building energy simulation of EnergyPlus with the popular drawing interface of Google’s SketchUp.
Rather than manually entering building geometry data, now users can quickly sketch a computerized 3-D drawing of a building and run a fast simulation during the early design phase to determine if their design is energy efficient. Taking a virtual X-ray of a building’s energy use in the conceptual phase allows architects to evaluate energy-saving strategies when design changes are least costly, and helps them to design a structure with fewer carbon emissions, lower utility bills, and a healthier environment.
Approximately 700 copies of OpenStudio, which was originally launched in April 2008, are reportedly downloaded each month by architects and engineers around the globe. NREL says users can download the software for free and see how easy it is to improve a building’s energy consumption in a fraction of the time of more-expensive computer-aided design (CAD) packages.
Also updated, EnergyPlus is a stand-alone simulation program that models whole-building energy consumption from heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, water systems, and other energy flows. According to NREL, the primary value of OpenStudio is to provide a graphical user interface to develop geometry that can be used directly with EnergyPlus.
If a user already has an EnergyPlus input file, he can use OpenStudio to render and change the geometry without losing any of the other information already contained in the EnergyPlus file. In little time, a designer can create a building’s geometry from scratch in SketchUp, add zones, draw heat transfer surfaces, draw windows and doors, etc., and then run an energy simulation in EnergyPlus.
The principal developer of OpenStudio, Peter Ellis, wrote the complex program using open-source coding principles so that any developer has the flexibility to modify or enhance the software. NREL developers are also working to make OpenStudio faster and add functionality. Future enhancements may include: integrating with a daylighting program; linking to a construction-cost database; and/or connecting to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
