I will be undertaking energy simulations in the very near future for
building owners that are attempting to get federal tax credits under section
179D EPAct tax deductions.

I will NOT be involved in design, but verifying performance against
the reducing
the total energy and power costs by 50 percent or more when compared to an
ASHRAE 90.1-2001 reference building for lighting, HVAC and building
envelope.

I want to use the easiest to learn program since I will be working alone
without other colleagues to bounce questions off of so ease of use is pretty
important. I have done building estimating and used CAD and other building
programs before so I am not a complete novice, but I have never done any
energy modeling.

I realize ease of use often requires sacrificing more features. Since at the
moment my tasks will be fairly limited I am willing to sacrifice features
for ease of use.

Any help I could get on deciding which application to use would be very much
appreciated.

Sincerely,

Jim Verzino