Hello everyone. I recently stumbled across the eQuest program when trying to find a reasonable priced energy modeling software. Our firm is relatively small, and hasn't had to do a lot of building energy analysis yet. We use Trane TRACE 700 for load calculation only, and have not purchased the modules which allow full energy simulation. This is what led me to eQuest. I'm trying to teach myself the program so that I can use it to compare airside and central plant system types in terms of energy usage.

However, I'm having trouble coming up with believable cooling loads. I threw together a quick 78,000 sqft elementary, very loosely based on a project we did a while back. 78,000 sqft, chilled water parallel VAV, electric heat in the boxes. The school is located in Corpus Christi, TX. I used the schematic design wizard and most of the eQuest defaults for occupancy, plug, and lighting loads, because they seemed reasonable. I tried to make the model as simple as possible, as if I was running block load calculations in TRACE, so I modeled it as a single zone, with sqft percentages assigned to different usages as required. I used roughly R-15-20 for the roof and walls. The LS-D report only indicates a peak load of approximately 130 tons. Schools in this area should be around 225 sqft/ton, so this school should be around 350 tons. I can't seem to find anything wrong with my inputs, and would love some direction on this matter. Am I looking at the right reports? Is there something simple I'm missing? I can provide my input or output files for your review if necessary, just tell me which files are pertinent. Thank you all, have a good one.

-Cole