Building Energy Conference Report.

Here is another report done by Andrew Marsh on Modelling Buildings For Energy Use and the effects of using multiple simulation tools. Once again the link to the full text is below, otherwise I have also posted the abstract.

http://companyshed.com/1023649200/documents/2006_IEECB_1.pdf



Abstract:
Increasingly, legislation (including the imminent requirement for the energy abelling of buildings) is requiring the building industry to produce more accurate estimates of the energy performance of buildings and building services in use. This accuracy is unlikely to be met through means other than dynamic simulation models. However, in practice detailed information about important factors which affect the energy use of both new buildings during the design phase and existing buildings during operation can be very limited. This paper considers the accuracy with which the existing dynamic simulation models EnergyPlus and ESP-r predict temperature in one existing commercial office building for which the authors have detailed information - including measurements of internal and external conditions at every 15min intervals over 1 year period. It examines the predicted temperatures produced using two different simulation tools with two different modelling strategies: single zoning and multiple zoning. The predictions of internal temperature for the office building are then compared with the physical measurement of temperature in the building to provide an indication of the accuracy with which the complexities of a real situation can be predicted. The work forms part of the European project AUDITAC: “Field Benchmarking and Market Development for Audit Methods in Air Conditioning”, and builds on a previous project undertaken by the Welsh School of Architecture – “AC Energy Use in Offices: Field Monitoring Study”. As part of the process, the paper discusses the strategy used to generate compatible input data for the two energy modelling software packages. The establishment of compatibility is important to enable valid comparisons to be drawn between the different simulation algorithms. The paper ends by drawing preliminary conclusions as to the most important building modelling variables for the test building, and therefore which variables should have the most time spent on them when establishing values. Similar studies will be undertaken on a number of buildings in various typologies and European climatic conditions to ascertain how the relative importance of these variables changes. This information is particularly important for deciding which data must be provided to enable building modellers to produce the most accurate models possible for energy analysis.