Thanks to all the people who responded to my question.
A few of you ask me to post the result from my very unscientific survey.
The list is split 50%, 50% in their opinion that EnergyPlus will
become a natural transition to eQuest.
The basic sentiment is that eQuest is recognized to be less capable, but
faster and easier to use.
However, almost all who responded recognized that as the demand for
high-performance buildings grows, the ability to accurately predict
energy consumption, C02 emissions, occupant comfort and life cycle costs
are going to become more important. I read this to mean that the
demand for detailed analysis tools like EnergyPuls is likely to
increase.
Someone asked me why Bentley cares. We believe that there's a hole in
the U.S. energy analysis/simulation market. We believe, as this survey
indicates, that the tools available to U.S. designers seem to fall into
two camps. Tools that are easy-to-use, but inaccurate/incomplete. Or,
tools that are precise, but difficult to use and slow.
Unfortunately, because of this we see:
1. Many "green" building don't live up to the promises
2. Robust energy simulation is typically reserved for "special"
projects, or certain project types.
3. Accurate energy analysis is typically siloed, as oppose to
integrated into the design process
As the leader in building engineering and analysis software or mission
is "sustaining the worlds infrastructure". As such we're working on
solving this problem, www.bentley.com/eps.
Dan Monaghan