What is eQUEST

eQUEST is the DOE 2 engine with wizards and graphics built on top of it. eQUEST is the most popular energy modeling program in existence. It's used by energy modelers and engineers all over the world. One big contributing factor to it's popularity is its cost, FREE, and the fact that it's built on the DOE 2 simulation engine. The other benefit of eQUEST is that it can be used at every stage of building development, from the early designs to final stages.

Using eQUEST

eQUEST allows you to import building geometry from architectural models. Or you can construct a building envelop within the program. From there you can run simple simulations or very complex models. There are three input wizards in eQUEST that all have differing levels of complexity, or you can use the detailed DOE-2 interface. They wizards are as follows: Schematic Design Wizard (simple inputs), Design Development Wizard (detailed input) and Energy Efficiency Wizard. Each wizard has extensive default inputs that are based off California Title 24 building energy code. Long-term average weather data (TMY, TMY2, TMY3, etc.) for 1000+ locations in North America are available via automatic download from within eQUEST (requires Internet connection).

Prerequisite Experience Use eQUEST

eQUEST's wizards make it easy for someone with no experience in energy analysis to use the program. However, once you get past the wizards and into the Detailed Interface things escalate quickly and some knowledge of energy analysis, DOE-2 or general HVAC and building technology is very beneficial.

Who Developed eQUEST?

eQUEST was originally developed by the US Department of Energy and then sold to James J Hirsch and Associates who still maintain it today.

eQUEST is written in C++ and the DOE-2.2 engine is written in FORTRAN. It runs on the windows platform. What engineer uses a mac anyway?

Where to get eQUEST Training?

We offer several levels of eQUEST training here on Energy-Models.com.

eQUEST Development and Updates

eQUEST is under continued development. The engine has been most recently updated to DOE 2.3 which added a plethora of new functionality. The operability and features are covered in our eQUEST training courses.

eQUEST File Types

There are several important file types in equest, advanced users can edit these with text editors:
.PD2 - Building inputs for wizards: the data in this file is data entered by the user and not the defaults
.PRD - Parametric Run Definitions: this file contains the options when you run parametric runs, for instance when comparing glass types.
.SIM - Large output files (text): This can be viewed in eQUEST when we want to view advanced report.
.INP - Building inputs (Created by wizards)

eQUEST Outputs

eQUEST supports a number of graphical results. eQUEST provides outputs for single-run results, comparative results and parametric reports.