Whole-building energy modeling (BEM) is a multi-purpose enabling technology for improving building energy performance. The U.S. Department of Energy?s Building Technologies Office (BTO) has supported BEM research and development for decades. A significant part of BTO?s strategy is funding and managing the development of BEM software. The focus has largely been on physics engines such as DOE-2 and EnergyPlus but BTO has developed some applications as well. One highly visible example is the OpenStudio Application, a graphical model editing environment that works in conjunction with the OpenStudio SketchUp plug-in. Together, these have been responsible for a significant increase in EnergyPlus adoption.

Despite the success of the OpenStudio Application the most expedient and effective growth channel for BEM is applications and services. After a year-long discussion with industry stakeholders, including the IBPSA-USA Advocacy Committee, BTO has decided to transition responsibility for management, development, distribution, and support of the OpenStudio Application to third parties by April 2020. BTO plans to retain the OpenStudio SDK?the non-graphical components of the project that support application development and large-scale simulation?within its open-source BEM software portfolio. BTO and the national labs will spend the next 18-plus months working to maximize the chances of a successful transition and to minimize disruption to existing OpenStudio Application users. BTO and the labs plan to engage stakeholders throughout this process to both provide updates and receive feedback. A more in-depth discussion detailing the components involved and expected timeline for transition is available at https://www.openstudio.net/node/2226. Questions, concerns, or comments about this plan can be sent to openstudio at nrel.gov.