[bldg-sim] EnergyPlus Version 1.2 Now Available

Drury.Crawley at EE.DOE.GOV Drury.Crawley at EE.DOE.GOV
Mon Apr 12 20:26:57 PDT 2004


EnergyPlus Version 1.2.0 Now Available

The newest version of EnergyPlus (1.2.0) was released on April 9, 2004 and
is now available in versions for both the Windows and Linux operating
systems (a version for Macintosh OSX is planned to be available within a
few days).  You can download EnergyPlus at no cost from the EnergyPlus web
site: www.energyplus.gov  .

What's New in EnergyPlus V 1.2.0

A few of the new features are listed below?see
www.energyplus.gov/features.html for a complete list of new features added
in this and previous versions:
- Displacement ventilation
- Bi-directional daylight calculations using radiosity for complex
fenestration
- Latent capacity degradation on cooling coils
- Demand-controlled ventilation
- Building integrated PV and solar thermal systems
- HVAC system diagramming tool
- Calculate environmental impacts (greenhouse and precursor gases, criteria
pollutants) from electricity and fuel use

Update on User Interfaces?

A number of graphical user interfaces for EnergyPlus are under development.
Two (DesignBuilder, EPlusInterface) are currently available in development
(beta) versions while the third (E+IEQ) should be available in 2005. Watch
this web page (www.energyplus.gov/ep_interfaces.html ) for up-to-date
information on these and other interfaces.

A number of utilities and tools for creating, editing, and running input
files come with EnergyPlus, including IDF Editor, EP-Launch, IFCtoIDF, and
HVAC-Diagram (see www.energyplus.gov/ep_utilities.html ). Third party tools
for creating, editing, and displaying EnergyPlus input files are also
available, including DrawBDL, EcoTect, Green Building Studio, EzDrawPlus,
TSe+, and EzPlus-Parm.  See www.energyplus.gov/third_party_tools.html for
more information.

What's going on in V1.2.0?

      Will there be any considerable difference between version 1.2.0 and
1.1.1?

      Yes.... and no. There are a number of new features and bug fixes.

      How about IDF and IDD? Do they remain unchanged?

      There will be some changes in the IDD and reflected in IDFs.
      Particularly for any new features, there will be new objects.

      Is version 1.2.0 backward compatible? Can I run a v1.1.1 file in v
1.2.0?

      For the most part, the answer is yes. Some report variables have
      changed names. To be sure, you can execute the transition program
      that will "transition" IDFs from V1.1.1 to V1.2.0. You can also view
      the ObjectStatus spreadsheet in the root folder of the installed
      version. This file has detailed explanations of changes to the
      objects.

EnergyPlus Weather Data

We have just republished the entire weather data set on the EnergyPlus web
site?updating the STAT report with many new statistics.

      www.energyplus.gov/weatherdata.html

Example:

      www.energyplus.gov/weatherdata/international/FRA_Paris.Orly_IWEC.stat

If you have weather data that you'd be willing to share with other
EnergyPlus users, please contact the EnergyPlus team.


EnergyPlus_Support Email Group at YahooGroups

Want to learn about EnergyPlus or ask questions of other EnergyPlus users?
Join more than 500 EnergyPlus users in an email group on YahooGroups.  This
email group is intended to foster discussion as well as maintain an archive
of information for EnergyPlus users.  In the files area, you can download
or upload files to share with other users. Suggestions for improvements to
EnergyPlus as well as questions about EnergyPlus are welcome.  This group
does not replace the primary support email address of
EnergyPlus-Support at gard.com.

      The main page for the group is:
      groups.yahoo.com/group/EnergyPlus_Support

      To subscribe, send an email message to:
      EnergyPlus_Support-subscribe at yahoogroups.com

      If you hate to receive email, you can edit your YahooGroup membership
to only send
      a daily digest of messages.


Building Energy Simulation User News

Want to keep up to date on EnergyPlus? Subscribe to the bi-monthly
electronic newsletter for users of EnergyPlus, DOE-2, BLAST, Genopt, SPARK,
Energy-10, and Building Design Advisor.   See
simulationresearch.lbl.gov/un.html


BLDG-SIM

Join the free e-mail list for users of all building energy simulation
programs. Ask other knowledgeable simulation program users your
questions--about EnergyPlus and other simulation programs. See
www.gard.com/ml/bldg-sim.htm for information on joining this email list.


Thanks!


The EnergyPlus Team



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