If you are reading this and you're on this website, there's a certainty that you have had computer issues interfere with your bottom line. Likely, you have wanted to smash your computer. Now, lately, many of you may not be fond of investing in the stock market - so why not invest in your workstation? If you are fortunate enough to work for a company that can upgrade your equipment, this is what I have found to be beneficial. 

1) Dual monitors. Large sized. 4k preferred

I like working on a laptop but I really don't understand how someone can work with less than two monitors. I just upgraded to three of these 4k 28" Samsung monitors - I was going to get an ultrawide monitor, but that doesn't really make sense for modeling, and the total cost was half of one of these monster gaming monitors (do you need a refresh rate of 240 hz for modeling? You might after you see one!)

4k is really important, as it allows reading of Full-sized architectural drawings. I can read construction plans on a large 4k monitor - which is nice, because you can't "ctrl+f" a paper copy. The 2nd and 3rd monitor allow me to read drawings and enter inputs simultaneously

2) A PCI solid state drive

In my tests, a solid state drive (or SSD) speeds up calculations, and also file transfer times. (make sure you enable TRIM, and disable auto-defrag! This should happen automatically with a PCI SSD). The added benefit: we all know that our energy models crash, and always at the wrong time. With a solid state drive, your computer can be restarted in under 1 minute.

The best solid state drives for typical users are PCI slot drives. If you aren't familiar with them, you should be, they are awesome! They are much smaller than typical 2.5" SSD's and when you upgrade them (for example, I moved from 512 GB to 2 TB) I now use the 512 GB drive as a flash drive - I use this adapter/case and it is the fastest and smallest portable drive I have ever used. It plugs in much more elegantly than a thumb drive without awkwardly breaking the USB connection on accident.

3) Maximize your ram

Use a 64-bit machine and use good RAM. This gets somewhat techy for a lot of us, but it boils down to allowing your energy modeling software to use the maximum amount of RAM it was built for (which 32 bit may not support!). Additionally, faster ram has given a slight edge when running complex models, but it's not really enough to justify the expense. For example 7200 Mhz Ram will give an edge over 3200 Mhz but unless you need it for other tasks, it probably won't justify the expense difference

4) A fast, multi-core processor

I've shown 30% improvement when running a large eQUEST file on an Intel core i7 3.40 ghz vs a core i9 3.40 ghz (Obviously it's not just the ghz that made the difference). While it does depend on the file, 30% is a lot of time when considering a large eQUEST LEED model, which runs 5 times. I also noticed that I can do other work during simulation with the more cores. Most energy-modeling software is single thread, which means it only uses 1 core of your CPU (even EnergyPlus, for the most part), so it's not always the most expensive processor that will run models the fastest, but rather a processor with a fast individual processor

I use multiple PCs when working on large projects and it seems there is a slight edge on Intel vs AMD. It's almost never worth it to get the "best" processor. If I'm working on an upgrade, I usually go with the 2nd or 3rd fastest option, but you can get a good idea of value by looking at the featured processors on Amazon

5) ASHRAE

ASHRAE has all the goods for you to produce quality energy models. Keep your membership active (I just hit the 5-year mark!) and make sure you have your own copy of ASHRAE Std 90.1, and the Std 90.1 user's manual.

With a solid history and phenomenal reputation - ASHRAE materials are a must. And you'll know that you are supporting the most important organization to energy modeling!

6) Automatic file backup

If I need to explain this one, you need to do a few more energy models and unless you are very lucky, you'll know why I mention this. Most of us use Dropbox. They have a solid free service - you can get bonus storage if you sign up through this link.

7) Ergonomics

This is swaying from the technical side of things a bit, and it might get a little pricey, but it is unhealthy to sit all day and taking a 15 minute break every hour is unrealistic, especially when submitting a LEED energy model.

A sit-and-stand desk is a good idea. Currently, I use an ergonomic monitor system, so I can stand and work at the same time (I simply use a podium and my wireless keyboard when standing). 

If you understand LEED (and the whole concept of LEED is not about energy, but about well-being), you might recall that well-being and worker productivity are related. Which is why I added ergonomics to this list!

Check out these dual ergotron arms. I've had these exact arms for 12 years and they are still perfect. I use them vertically or side to side. They allow me to rotate my monitors if need be. I even added a 3rd arm for another monitor.

The bottom line is that with a combination of the technical upgrades, my TRACE 700 and eQUEST models run in half the time than they previously did.

If anyone else has any pointers, please comment!

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