To all students and faculty interested in energy simulation and existing
buildings:
The DOE-sponsored Virtual Building Triathlon (VBT) student design
competition is now open - details and registration are at
https://virtualbuildingtriathlon.lbl.gov/. The competition involves the
identification and evaluation of integrated deep retrofit measures for a
commercial building located in Cambridge, MA. The goal of the
competition is to promote the use of building simulation and other tools
in the analysis of integrated energy efficiency retrofit measures. A
similar competition for currently practicing engineering and
architectural professionals will be announced shortly. The competitions
are organized by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the Tech to
Market team in the Building Technologies Office of the US Department of
Energy, in conjunction with the International Building Performance
Simulation Association (IBPSA-USA).
Key dates:
- 1/3/2017: Competition submissions due
- 1/17/2017: Selection of finalists
- 1/28/2017: Finalist presentations, judging and awards in conjunction
with the IBPSA-USA meeting in Las Vegas, NV, which is co-located with
the ASHRAE Winter Meeting.
A medium-sized, public commercial building (the City of Cambridge
Citywide Senior Center) has been selected based on the availability of
detailed as-built drawings, detailed energy consumption data, and
synergy with the interests of the building owner.
The first stage of the triathlon involves generating a detailed
simulation model of the building from the package of plans,
specifications and data obtained on registering for the competition. A
full year of 15 minute electricity consumption and monthly fuel
consumption data, together with the corresponding weather data, is
included in the briefing package. The contestants are expected to use
this data to fine tune / calibrate their model, using a method of their
choice, which could be a calibration method based on formal optimization
(e.g., Oak Ridge National Laboratory?s Autotune) or a
?human-in-the-loop? reconciliation method (e.g., Hydro Qu?bec?s VizBEM
tool); however, contestants should clearly document their chosen method.
Contestants are free to use the simulation tool of their choice.
The second stage of the triathlon will be to identify and analyze
integrated retrofit measures along with their respective integrated
energy consumption and energy demand impacts. Contestants should then
select and document a set of the identified measures, based on energy
savings, peak demand reduction and carbon emissions, including a
scenario in which the carbon emissions associated with electricity
generation are reduced by a factor of two by renewables.
The third stage will focus on the production of cohesive and thorough
retrofit reporting and presentation materials, with the objective of
efficiently conveying the information needed by decision making building
owners and managers.
Three finalists will be selected based on written submissions. The final
award selections will be based on a combination of the written
submission and oral presentation by each finalist, including responses
to questions from the judges. Assistance with expenses incurred for
travel and overnight accommodation in Las Vegas will be made available.
The prizes will be:
First Place - $5,000
Second Place - $2,500
Third Place - $1,000
The competition will be open to individuals or teams of up to five
people, all of whom must be registered as full-time students of an
accredited US college/university in the Fall 2016 semester. Winning
teams will share the prize money equally. The role of faculty members
and other non-students is to be limited to providing generic information
and advice - contestants will be required to sign a declaration that
ideas and analysis submitted are all their own work.
Contestants should send clarification questions to
vbt-questions at lbl.gov. Responses will be posted on the competition
website and/or e-mailed to all registered contestants (without revealing
the identity of the questioner).
