[Bldg-sim] White Box Technologies announces the establishment of a Center for Open Source Building Simulations

[Varkie C Thomas]

Joe:


What would be the source of funding for the �Center for Open Source Building Energy Simulations (COSBES)�?  A non-profit organization of architectural engineering design firms (AEDs) could support this effort since they are the main users of such programs. There isn't one.

DOE21E should be supported, maintained and enhanced by USDOE and LBNL until AEDs accept Energy-Plus as the replacement program for DOE21E.  Several private firms have developed easy to use forms and graphics interfaces to DOE21E.  If USDOE and LBNL were to abandon DOE21E, then these private firms will lose their investment.  Either USDOE continues developing and maintaining DOE21E, or it should compensate the private firms for their losses.

Attached are my views on energy programs including suggested enhancements to DOE21E.  The attachments have been omitted because of their size.

Varkie Thomas


----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Huang <YJHuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010 2:52 pm
Subject: [Bldg-sim] White Box Technologies announces the establishment of a Center for Open Source Building Simulations

> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
> 
> White Box Technologies wishes to announce its intention to 
> establish a 
> non-profit Center for Open Source Building Energy Simulations 
> (COSBES). 
> I admit the title may sound a bit on the grandiose side, but it 
> capsulizes my thinking on what may help our little world of 
> building 
> energy simulations - a non-profit non-commercial center on 
> simulation 
> programs and resources that's in the public domain.
> 
> My initial goals are very modest, but my long-range vision is for 
> the 
> Center to be capable of significant software development and 
> support, 
> but always open source. My first steps are simply to maintain an 
> open-source version of DOE-2.1E. DOE-2.1E has been effectively 
> abandoned 
> by LBNL and DOE for close to a decade. I have assurances from LBNL 
> that 
> it's only a matter of paperwork for them to make the program open 
> source, and have communicated to them my intentions without 
> receiving 
> any objections.
> 
> So what would this support consist of, besides making the program 
> and 
> source code freely available? That would of course depend on the 
> public's (your) interest and need, which is one reason for this 
> announcement! But for starters, I have a backlog of completed work 
> that 
> have never been incorporated into the public release version of 
> DOE-2.1E, such as two-dimensional and combined response factors 
> for 
> composite walls, a decent foundation model, and an improved 
> weather file 
> format.  In addition, I'm currently working on contract for ORNL 
> to 
> incorporate AtticSim into 2.1E. Lastly, I have a license from LBNL 
> to 
> continue working on my last major work there - a partially-
> completed 
> DOE-2 to EnergyPlus translator (doe2ep) that, funding pending, can 
> be 
> updated to the current EnergyPlus release. Also in the works and 
> soon to 
> be launched are (1)  VisualEPlus, a graphical user interface for 
> EnergyPlus done by colleagues in China, and (2) actual-year 
> weather data 
> service accessing NCDC's massive International Surface Hourly 
> (ISH) data 
> base.
> 
> I had originally thought of calling a meeting at ASHRAE to make 
> this 
> announcement, but then realized that finding a time to meet at 
> ASHRAE is 
> an impossibility. However, I would be happy to entertain any 
> questions 
> and comments while at the conference, where I'll typically be 
> found in 
> TC 4.7 and 4.2 meetings. For course, I'm also open to questions 
> and 
> comments posted on BLDG-SIM, although my responses will be 
> somewhat delayed.
> -- 
> 
> Joe Huang
> White Box Technologies, Inc.
> 346 Rheem Blvd. Suite 108D
> Moraga CA 94556
> (o) +925 388 0265
> (c) +510 928 2683
> yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
> www.whiteboxtechnologies.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Joe Huang
> White Box Technologies, Inc.
> 346 Rheem Blvd. Suite 108D
> Moraga CA 94556
> (o) +925 388 0265
> (c) +510 928 2683
> yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
> www.whiteboxtechnologies.com
> 
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