Is there a tool out there that allows you to quickly analyze the effect different mechanical systems will have on energy cost savings? It seems that a lot of project teams during the design stages want to know the influence on energy models and ultimately how big of a drop or gain in LEED points certain system changes will have. Ironically, the current process of LEED is analyzing the energy a building consumes based on systems that are already designed...
William Mak
Right now I use eQuest predominantly, although for advanced systems modeling
I'm moving towards Energy Plus.
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Karen
I often create a number of parametric runs for my clients which compare,
among other things, changes to mechanical systems. Sometimes creating the
energy model early in the design process requires me to make changes to
zoning, geometry and systems for the final LEED model, but hey, using
modeling to make design decisions is what it was designed to do, isn't it?
In my experience, even after modeling 100's of buildings, there is not
always one good answer for every building. Changes in space use, occupancy
levels and existing building conditions have large impacts on mechanical
systems choices (not to mention budgets and available fuels).
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Karen
Will,
I'd suggest looking into tools like Energy-10 (www.sbicouncil.org) which
allow rapid initial modeling to assess envelope, fenestration and mechanical
tradeoffs. Energy simulation tools of this type may be limited in directly
modeling many thermal zones or particular HVAC configurations, but do allow
the evaluation of a wide variety of options early in pre-design.
Norm Weaver