ASHRAE is in the early planning stages of an Energy Modeling Conference
for the spring of 2011 that is targeted for consulting engineering
practitioners. We are looking for input on the appropriate topics
and/or session types you would like to see at such a conference. Some
topic thoughts are: energy simulation, BIM, CFD and daylight modeling.
What conference content would prompt you to travel and attend such a
conference? Please be as specific as possible in describing what you
would like covered at the conference. What do you want to learn? What
location(s) in the US would draw the largest attendance, in your
opinion?
Personal regards,
Lynn G. Bellenger, PE, FASHRAE
Thats a very interesting direction.
I think some topics would be baseline modeling for new and existing
buildings.(Appendix G)
Also, successful modeling using different modeling softwares available.
On 19 February 2010 15:24, Bellenger, Lynnwrote:
--
Thanks
Sincerely,
Amit Bhansali, M.S. , EIT
Lynn,
I tend to think that messages posted on Friday afternoons get generally unnoticed. However, this is an interesting proposal.
Regarding topics, it would be interesting to have some real cases where modeling results of new buildings are compared with utility bills obtained 1 or 2 years after construction, and lessons to learn from that.
As for location, D.C., N.Y. or California seem right.
_______________
Demba NDIAYE
Hello Lynn,
Here is what I would be interested:
1. Comparison of Energy simulation results with the actual
results.
2. What are the common hand calculations that an energy modeler
needs to do to verify the results?
3. What are the most commonly type of problems energy modelers
face and how to tackle it when the software is unable to do it?
4. What should one do when there is no weather data available for
a specific location?
5. Impact of path followed by sun for various regions.
I would say if you can plan for NY, or Vegas to bring in huge audience.
Reason being people like to have fun after attending such conference.
Thanks
Fareed Syed EIT, LEED(r) AP
Lynn,
I imagine you are already familiar with IBPSA's SimBuild conference which
are also energy modeling conferences. If not, you can find info about them
on the IBPSA web site. Would ASHRAE try to make their conferences unique
from IBPSAs in some way? If you could maybe I would consider attending
another conference, if not I probably wouldn't be able to afford it. In any
case, be sure to pick a site that is inexpensive to fly to and stay at. Many
of us modelers are self employed or work for cost conscious companies and
it's hard to justify a lot of expense. If we are self employed we are also
losing income for the duration of the conference so it's kind of a double
hit. For this reason I would also hope that ASHRAE would make every attempt
to keep the conference fee as low as possible. Just some food for thought.
Regards
Carol Gardner
Dear Lynn,
Thanks for asking!
My vote goes to the topic "How do you know if your model is actually working
as intended?" (in other words, diagnostic and verification practices) Some
tools have extensive analysis capability and others seem not to. Energy
Plus can report on almost anything you desire, while Trace 700 seems only
able to give summary reports.
Re: Location, Chicago is central, and vibrant - not a bad choice (especially
for someone form West Michigan!)
James V. Dirkes II, P.E., LEED AP
Using energy models to size systems. In our area engineers seam afraid to size systems using energy models. Advantages, disadvantages and barriers to this subject would be great to see.
I did not read all previous posts so I hope this is not a duplication.
Brad Acker, P.E.
Dear Lynn:
From the teaching aspect of energy modeling, and only if you are willing
to target other people than consulting engineering practitioners, I
would recommend presentations on integrating energy modeling with
architecture/engineering design in the classrooms.
I am aware that some of you engineers are developing incredible skills
in energy modeling. So, introducing simplified techniques and short
exercises within the scope of a classroom will be welcomed by faculty
and students alike and would help the education aspect of energy
modeling.
Just a thought,
Nader V. Chalfoun, Ph.D., LEED AP, CEA
Dear Lynn,
I'd agree with James on this. Model calibration is something that is a bit
of a dark art. We carry it out for some projects, but it isn't easy in many
tools (not even in E+, though we have done it a number of times in this) and
I'm sure a lot of people would benefit this.
Unfortunately I don't think you could teach a healthy scepticism of results.
That comes naturally or not.
In terms of location. Somewhere that us in the UK can get to easily and
affordably would be nice.
Cheers
Dr Paul Carey
John Ross wrote;
I would skip Chicago in favor of Denver; DOE has a major presence at
NREL, and a trip to a conference could be combined with a
visit to NREL to see what they're up to.........
As far as expecting honest straight forward answers from utility
companies about how much energy you're using month to month and year to
year.....
don't hold your breath !! A "major" electric utility in Northern
Virginia changes the number of days in a particular month's bill from
year to year.
The only place the number of days is shown is on the original bill. The
previous 11 months shown on each bill have an unknown and variable
number of days.
18 month and 24 month summaries did not show the number of days in each
bill until I got a meeting with a new , Republican , County Supervisor.
The weather data for my location, Sterling VA, next huge Dulles Airport
came chopped up into over 15 separate data files due to outages......
They actually don't have UPS backup power or redundant sensors for much
of the "continuous data" that started in ? 1991 ??
Hi, Lynn.
How about a session on the state of the art in modeling natural ventilation
and mixed-mode systems in hourly simulations. Ideally with some case studies
and validation.
Erik Kolderup, PE, LEED AP