When we first published a map of LEED buildings per capita in 2011, we were accused of a political agenda by a few people. After the initial surprise and chuckle, our curiosity started to grow, after all, as energy-modelers we naturally gravitate towards analyzing data. So we asked ourselves, “What side would this map be on for a political agenda?”
Can you guess...
Using notepad++, there is a very efficient way to compare two eQUEST pd2 or *.inp files. This also works with EnergyPlus, and basically any two text based files. Check out the video and I'll show you how.
Notepad++ is a lightweight, must-have program for energy-modelers. I've fixed numerous complex eQUEST issues with the functionality. It's like wordpad, but on steroids (and yet somehow just as fast or faster) And if you write code, it helps with that too!Question:
USGBC is asking me for a manual calculation on fan power. Can you walk me through how you calculate the fan power for a VAV system for LEED?
Answer:
It’s a pretty straightforward process. However, it does require some bouncing around in ASHRAE 90.1 and that can lead to confusion, so after this walk-through you might simply prefer to use our fan calculator. One of the most complicated parts of the calculation is determining the filter credit. But remember that you should only apply the fan credit if ALL the supply air is filtered. (The workaround is discussed in the...
Last week, we received two incredibly similar inquiries related to the ruling in ASHRAE 90.1 from table G3.1.1a that “All conditioned spaces in the proposed design shall be simulated as being both heated and cooled even if no heating or cooling system is to be installed.”
Here is a sample of the question we received:
I have a space in the proposed that is heated only. It has a peak heating load of 12 Btuh/SF, but the baseline peak is 20 Btuh/SF. In this climate zone, heating is defined as conditioned when the peak load is greater than 15 Btuh/sf. Since the proposed is not conditioned and the baseline is conditioned, do I treat the space as unconditioned, semi-heated, or...
Over a year ago, I decided to give LED’s a whirl and the LED's decided to give me a headache. I decided that I could not make a verdict on the purchase until a year had passed. It's been over a year, so here goes:
First thing, I did not install them for interior lighting, but for exterior night-time lighting only. I’m sure many of you are aware that LED’s are more popular for exterior lighting than they are indoors. In my opinion, exterior lighting is one of the best places to get LEED points because of the undisputed energy savings, plus LED’s can easily meet the lighting pollution reduction SSc8.
In any, case - why’d I update to outdoor LED’s? Naturally, I am energy conscious, but the main reason is because the...
Here’s an interesting conversation we had with someone on our recently. Of course, it does not reflect the views of Energy-models.com, but it does reflect the views of many engineers we've talked to about the design process and architects.
Anonymous: Hey - are you going to offer a Revit MEP training?
Support: We would like to, but need to define the scope - perhaps you could help? Do you have any ideas on what a typical MEP engineer would want to learn to do in Revit MEP?
Anonymous: With regard to Energy Modeling or in BIM modeling?
Support: Considering we are an energy modeling...
I’d like to ask you the reader, what do you think I mean by the word ‘green’ in the title of this blog. I'd guess that most of you thought of multiple facets of green, but primarily thought of energy.
In the past decade, most conversations you have likely had about anything 'green' have had a large emphasis on energy. In some cases, it was probably the only topic in the conversation; energy consumption has become the cultural catch-all for being green. (even though energy consumption is only a piece of the green pie!)
Why has 'saving energy' become synonymous with “green”? This may sound like a trivial question but to put it in perspective, consider that twenty some years ago, the phrase ‘green’ was synonymous with “Don’t...
After a year of beta testing, LEED v4 is out. What caused the delay? Some changes hardly seem controversial, like the new market sectors that allow for a wider selection of building types for existing schools and retail, data centers, warehouses and distribution centers, hospitality, and mid-rise residential projects.
According to Beth Heider, "USGBC – when I was chair – realized through discussions with stakeholders that those groups didn’t feel the market was ready for as much change as LEED v4 contains. Part of the reason was the building market was – and still is –...
A lot of you are awesome energy-modelers. Now you can prove it. Recently, we sent out a survey which a number of you had participated in. Enough of you asked about Userpoints and how to get them and what they do. We did some brainstorming and decided to revamp userpoints and make the process as simple as possible. A few weeks ago, the top users were basically 3 people, and everyone else was near a tie, we decided to reset the board!
What do your Userpoints do for you? Earn a reputation as a great modelerMy first energy modeling assignment was for a building that was nearing the end of construction. The owner wanted a second opinion, or third-party energy model, to see how it would compare to the energy modeling results given by the design team for LEED certification. What they really wanted to know was how much they should expect to pay for utilities during their first year or two, because they were a national real estate developer trying to predict the future of their investment. Since this introduction to the powerful tool of energy modeling, my mind has been focused on proving to myself and others that the most useful investment for energy modeling is to influence the building envelope and architecture design at...
