APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:

	Computer rendering of the new federal building to be built in San Francisco. The building was designed with the aid of the EnergyPlus software distributed and partly developed by Berkeley Lab.

• Modeling building heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows

ADVANTAGES:

Simulation capabilities include:

• time steps of less than an hour
• modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation
• multizone air flow, thermal comfort, and photovoltaic systems

ABSTRACT:

EnergyPlus is a building energy simulation program for modeling building heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows. While it is based on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE-2, it includes many innovative 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, and photovoltaic systems.

The simulation program allows designers to calculate the impacts of different heating, cooling, and ventilating systems, as well as that of various types of lighting systems and windows. EnergyPlus was developed as a collaborative effort between Berkeley Lab’s Simulation Research Group, led by Fred Winkelmann of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, with assistance from other research organizations.

STATUS:

• Available for licensing

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To download the latest version of EnergyPlus and learn about future planned updates visit the link below. These webpages also offer software highlights.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/

For information on licensing EnergyPlus see:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/licensing.html

REFERENCE NUMBER: CR-2118

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