Energy Modeling For Sustainability
Because a complete simulation requires specifying thermal zones and mechanical systems, the venerable DOE-2 has proved daunting for architects to use, particularly early in design, when crucial decisions about form and orientation are made. To make these simulations more accessible, software developers have been creating "friendlier" user interfaces. Systems such as eQUEST (doe2.com/equest), also initiated by DOE, and EnergyPro, offered by the private sector, enable architects and engineers to take advantage of DOE-2's analytic power during schematic design. They do so by offering intelligent defaults for as-yet-undecided design features. As the project develops, these defaults can be replaced by real design proposals, and the analysis becomes incrementally more precise. There is a price to pay, though, for simplicity. eQUEST, for instance, is limited in the complexity of geometry it can model. DOE-2 and EnergyPlus are not alone in their thoroughness and reliability. Trane Trace 700 and the British IES
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It's important to note that no simulation is a perfect representation of reality, and any prediction relies on many assumptions about conditions that will affect the operations of the building, such as weather, occupancy rates, and facility management practices. Results from these programs are useful for evaluating design options, but their ability to predict actual energy use is limited and should be tempered by good sense, professional experience, and actual performance data.