Can you imagine hiring a Swahili translator without knowing the first thing about Swahili? What if a fake translator claimed to be an expert and even spoke a few words of Swahili to convince you of his expertise? How would you know he was lying? Likely, you wouldn't. And by the time you found out he was lying, you're being eaten by cannibals in the Congo (and no, your contract is not going to protect you!). If only you had taken a course on Swahili, you would've easily recognized the fraud and wouldn't be in this mess.

Energy-modeling is the same way. A lot of people claim to be experts, but only speak enough of the lingo to get the contract, and then slap something together and claim that it's valid (I've supported hundreds of people who have done this - I even found out they copied/pasted my emails and sent them straight to their client - just to make themselves look smart!). But how can you spot a fraud if you don't know the lingo? The best way to spot a fraud is to speak the lingo. In energy-modeling terms, that means get acquainted with the software. Maybe you won't become an expert, but you will be able to recognize one!

You might not get eaten by cannibals, but you can avoid a room full of angry Owners, investors, and architects - which might be worse than cannibals.

Recommended Courses:

A while ago, energy-models.com published a blog, "Is insulation the best energy saver?" and illustrated the number of hours where high R-values may increase energy. People may argue, "that's what an economizer is for!"  In my opinion, that of course is a good argument, but I have talked to too many people who have asked, "Why does my energy go up with increased wall insulation?"

To test this scenario, we looked to our good friend eQUEST. We built a simple building and tested it over a range of climate zones, and a range of R-values. In order to "normalize" the data, we compared everything to R-9 insulation (which is a pretty low R-value). We also made a number of assumptions:

EAc1 LEED points can't fall entirely on the back of the MEP!

I've probably seen as many LEED files as most LEED reviewers. What blows my mind is that most of the files I have seen save very little in lighting, even though lighting is often 25% of the building energy costs. In my opinion, this is a result of Architects and firms who, let's face it, are too set in their ways to change their designs. (Either that, or it's just plain laziness).  Perhaps, I am being harsh and they simply don’t understand the huge impact lighting has on LEED points. So, I’m going to spell it out mathematically, but first let’s see how a typical conversation goes:

"We have a design that is going to save 30% on energy costs annually. The HVAC has an improvement of 35% over the 90.1-2007 baseline, and we are using such and such.."

…..But then, I look at the lighting and see that it is designed at 1.2 watts/sq ft compared to a baseline building at 1.3 w/sq ft .

Now if you're asking, "what's wrong with this?"-  I want to ask you, "What's wrong with you and why are you reading my blog?" Okay, maybe I'm being harsh again but it's really simple math and I shouldn't need to explain it in depth. The truth is that lights are one of the best ways to earn LEED points.

Here's a rule of thumb for LEED buildings:

 Whatever your intended net savings on LEED is, your lighting design should save that percentage against the whole building method. (for buildings where lights are the typical 15-25% of savings)

So, what is the GREENEST state in the U.S.A.?

This is pretty hard to gauge of course, but let's say we will use LEED buildings as a metric. If you look at the LEED buildings by state map we recently published, it's clear that California takes the cake in all categories, with thousands more LEED certified buildings than any other state. However, looking at the map, it was notable that the top 4 states were identical to the top 4 states in automobile emissions, as well as urban sprawl, among a number of other factors. 

Furthermore, when sorting the data from Certified to Platinum, some interesting trends appear. Most notably, California definitely loses its enormous advantage. So, maybe it's not entirely fair to gauge based on the number of LEED buildings, as big states with many buildings will clearly win, despite the negative environmental impact that inevitably is associated with large populations.

So, I asked myself, "what if each state was adjusted to have 10M people?"

In other words, what does it look like if we determined the data as "LEED buildings per 10M people"?

The Numbers are surprising, with the number 1 ranked building in Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum being:

Recently transfer jobs and find your new company won’t fork over the dough to buy you TRACE 700? Or are you a small firm and want to save money? Perhaps you just want to learn Trane TRACE and expand your resume?

Want TRACE 700 for free? You have three options.

Option 1 - TRACE Rewards Points

Do you spec equipment? Or do you purchase equipment? Do you talk to your local Trane rep? Well, you might not know it, but you might be able to get TRACE 700 for free (this will be the full support package too). It’s possible to get a discount too.

See, many Trane offices have “rewards points” systems. When you purchase equipment you get points which are often redeemable for office training events, and even trips to the good ole’ chiller plant in La Crosse, WI (which for some is code for a night on the town or 4th Street - the pub district). However, maybe ask your Trane Account Manager about getting a TRACE 700 license with these rewards points. Though, I bet more of you will ask about the pub district.

If you're a LEED AP you passed a pretty difficult test, so how difficult could a LEED energy model be? Well, doing an energy-model is one thing, but doing a LEED energy-model is another. With countless nuances in LEED modeling, it takes a decent bit of experience to get good at modeling for LEED. To be honest, I have seen some horrible models. In fact, in my years working in TRACE 700 support, I've told many LEED APs that he or she would save money by sub-consulting the project to a firm with more experience.

How can you avoid this? Well, we recommend making friends and getting training! We offer a low cost "LEED for Energy-Modelers" trainings available to get you started. Check out the free LEED energy modeling cheat sheet, which contains dozens of tips and gives a common step by step procedure on what a modeler would need to accomplish in energy-modeling software.

The other most important thing when doing models is to have an experienced friend or a paid consultant on standby. A good idea is to get involved in a community. We recommend joining the Onebuilding.org mailing lists, as well as participating in our energy modeling user forum

Are you a LEED AP? Do you know the ins and outs of energy-modeling?

If you can answer yes to both of these questions your portfolio will be on hyper-drive. Here, we are going to outline the TRUE importance of an Energy-model in LEED certification. In fact, we'll quantify it and also answer some beginner questions if you are new to the subject. We are also going to help you decide whether to do a model in house or hire a consultant (and also help you to avoid getting ripped off if you do hire a consultant).

What is LEED energy-modeling?

When someone refers to LEED energy-modeling, they are almost always referring to LEED Energy and Atmosphere credit 1, and likely Energy and Atmosphere pre-requisite 2.  Also refer to our "What is energy-modeling page".

Why is it important for a LEED AP to know energy-modeling?

Well, the answer is simple math (and as a LEED AP, you are probably pretty good at math). There are 110 possible credits for a LEED building including all bonus points. Energy and atmosphere credit 1 is the single largest credit, with up to 19 points. Just how many of the total LEED points is this? Well, let's look at a pi chart of all the LEED points by credit:

TRACE 700 has an armada of features. Some of them are way under-utilized. Let's take a moment to look at a few of them and see how they can be used:

1. Metric/English Units: By going to the options menu and selecting units, one can convert from English to metric units with a click of a button. Maybe this sounds obvious, however, many people forget about this when working in English units and viewing the ECB/PRM report. Changing units, then viewing the report will give you the values in kW-hr, and KW.
2. Summary information: Under assign rooms to systems, a summary information checkbox is listed. When checked, this box will give information about any room, rooms, systems or entire project such as square footage and estimated loads. This is great for finding differences between systems in multiple alternatives.
3. Import Equipment: TRACE 700 can import equipment from the  TOPSS (Trane product selection program). Just ask for the file from your local rep and import it under Libraries and cooling equipment.
4. The Plant Wizard: Anytime you wish to setup a plant in TRACE 700, especially something you haven't done before, consider using the plant wizard button under Create Plants (remember, it will delete all plants that are existing)
5. Import Glass types: While TRACE 700 uses center of glass properties, it can import data from a program called WINDOW (4, 5, or 6.x) to get more accurate information.
6. Checksum Select: On the first tab of the results screen, there is an option for "Checksum Select" whenever any checksums reports are selected. This option allows the room, zone, or system checksum reports to be limited to a selection. This is great for quickly navigating when only a few rooms/systems have priority, or when attempting to print only a few of the room checksums, rather than wasting potentially hundreds of pages and hours of time
7. New file based on: One can use new file based on to start a new file using ANY alternative from an existing file. This is done by closing all projects in TRACE 700 and going to file and selecting New --> New file based on (or CTRL + B)
8. New file wizard: Very few people seem to know about this. This is done the same as #7, but selecting new file wizard instead. One can complete a file in a few minutes if using it for strict comparison (please note, many templates will be displayed, but DON'T edit them all since only a few of them are actually used in the rooms)
9. Import GBXML: Yes, TRACE 700 can import GBXML files. 
10. Trace 700 Visualizer: When looking at the analysis reports, there is a button labeled, "Graph Profiles and Energy". This launches the TRACE 700 visualizer, which can be used to breakout hourly variable, graph them or load them in excel.

We all  know it: Humans have not yet evolved to work in an office environment. We are just not built for it. As someone who likes to stay fit, but also loves triple baconators from Burger King, I've come up with a few tricks to stay fit.

We've all heard of the Freshman 15 in college. But, nobody ever talks about what I would call "the 5 year 50" (by the fifth year in the office, many guys have gained 50 pounds since college).

Before we start, what's a typical day like for an engineer:

Well, we start with our morning caffeine intake, and maybe breakfast. By lunch, we are starving and often gorge ourselves so that by 2 pm, we are near comatose and need a boost. We often grab a soda or something with caffeine. This gets us through the day so that we crash about three hours later at home and then have zero energy to exercise. We rinse (shower) and repeat.

Not to mention the indoor environment and exposure to others causes us to get sick more often, and also prevents our recovery. There are also a number of factors that make us perpetually feel like crap (we'll discuss those)

It's all about feeling good. If you feel good, you will actually WANT to do something active. If you feel crumby, you will want to lounge and eat.

Here's some tricks I've come up with:

1) Carry a bottle of drinking water with you at all times.

Even if you don't drink it at first, you eventually will. Just make sure the bottle is easy to open and somewhat pleasant looking. We all get bored at work and we tend to snack because of it. Eventually, you will find yourself sipping it, which will reduce other cravings (the body often misinterprets dehydration as hunger).

Many users do not know that you can use this website to network with other energy-modelers by adding them as friends, which allows you to post on each  others profiles, and follow each others forum posts more easily.

Also, if you want more control of this website, it is automatically granted so that you get more control as you provide more useful content (and prove that you are a respected member of the community).

The many intricate details of the website make it rather large and the site runs much faster using Mozilla Firefox or Google chrome! It's a modern web design, use a modern browser!

Click play on the following to learn more about the site. It may take about thirty seconds to load. Don't forget to go full screen. You can even navigate manually by clicking objects with your mouse and zoom in/out with your scroll wheel.