[bldg-sim] Green Building Studio

[Mike Roberts]

Carol,

I have been in the energy simulation business since the late '70s and worked
with a lot of different simulation programs.  My current favorite is eQUEST,
partly because if I can get a drawing file, I can import it into eQUEST and
trace the building and zone outlines in an hour or two instead of several
days with some of the older systems.  That allows me to charge less money
for a better model and I enjoy the project more because I spend less time
with the "drudgery" part.  Cheaper models bring me more business.

I have not yet had a chance to look at the Green Building Studio Web
service, but I hope it reduces the "drudgery" even more than eQUEST.  Then I
can do more and even better projects.  I do recall that Trane's TRACE Ultra,
when it first came out around 1990, was easier to use than DOE-2.1E or
BLAST.  Trane also made a significant sales push to get it out to engineers.
In my opinion, three significant things happened:  First, a lot of engineers
became aware of energy simulation and I got more business.  Second, more
than a few engineers thought they could do energy simulation without
spending the time to learn the program because TRACE was now easy to use.  I
got a lot of calls to fix their simulations.  Third, some engineers learned
TRACE and used it, but still called me when they had more simulation or more
complicated simulation than they could handle.

So far, all of the improvements in energy simulation have been positive for
the industry and positive for me.  I fully expect that trend to continue.

Mike Roberts



-----Original Message-----
From: bldg-sim at gard.com [mailto:bldg-sim at gard.com]On Behalf Of Carol
Gardner
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 4:51 PM
To: bldg-sim at gard.com
Cc: bldg-sim at gard.com
Subject: [bldg-sim] Green Building Studio


Pat,

Thank you for this explanation.  This sounds like a potentially great
tool and I will have to try it out.

I, like others on BLDG SIM, want to see energy analysis incorporated
into the design process so that better buildings will be built.  In
fact, this has been my life's work since 1982 when I was still in
engineering school.

The only problem I have with it is that the "drudgery" you speak of is a
large part of how I earn my living, and it does sound like the goal of
this tool is to replace me at some point.  As anyone who has been doing
building simulation for any amount of time knows (my first model was on
DOE2.1c) the up front setting up of the geometry, schedules and
constructions is what takes the most time, therefore paying the energy
engineer the most money (sorry to be so crass).

As far as bringing more experts to the table I have doubts about that
too.  I would guess that it will actually bring more people to the table
who don't have experience in energy engineering, which requires a unique
set of skills that cut across many disciplines, but who think since they
have the results from this nifty new tool that they have the answers.

My goal is not to be a wet blanket but to encourage everyone involved to
think this through.  We, the energy professionals, are finally getting
the respect we deserve due to the acceptance of the "green" building
movement but if bad answers get provided which cause bad systems to be
installed it will be like the solar fiasco Brian spoke of and all good
experiences could quickly forgotten.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Carol Gardner

Pat Bailey wrote:
> All,
>
> We're excited about the interest in the Green Building Studio web
> service that has popped up on BLDG SIM in the last few days.  As the
> head of the engineering portion of our firm, I would like to agree with
> much of what has been said and clear up a few items.
>
> Green Building Studio, Inc. is a firm that develops software and
> provides services related to green building design.  Our Green Building
> Studio web service (GBS) is a free web based schematic energy analysis
> service, funded by a number of public and utility entities.  The service
> is designed to encourage building designers, especially architects, to
> look at the very important energy decisions that they are making,
> whether they know it or not, at the very earliest stages of schematic
> and even programmatic design.
>
> Green Building Studio (the web service) works with the leading CAD BIM
> and HVAC design software providers (AutoDesk Revit, ADT and Building
> Systems and ArchiCAD 9.0, Trane Trace 700) to provide a high level
> energy analysis of schematic designs (using appropriate 90.1 or
> localized defaults if the envelope or other building characteristics are
> unknown).  We do this by converting a Green Building XML (gbXML) file,
> created by a CAD/BIM application, to a simulation model (DOE2 and
> EnergyPlus) after assigning the defaults mentioned above where
> necessary, and running the simulation on our server and serving up the
> highest level results to the user (typically an architect).  In
> addition, we make the native DOE2.2 file available to the
> architect, simulators,  and design team so that they can modify, update
> and migrate the file (in text or eQUEST) with the design(s) as they move
> forward.  The intent is that MORE experts will be involved in simulating
> MORE buildings, not to replace the experts.  We do however want to
> replace the 3-sided rulers, reduce the amount of time that it takes to
> get a simulation model built so that more time is spent exercising the
> model, running parametrics, investigating possibilities and providing
> valuable information to owners and design teams early in the process so
> that schematic decisions (glazing amount per orientation, rotation of
> the building/campus, window shading, system type) can be informed by a
> schematic energy analysis.
>
> We changed our name (as of September 1 of this year) to Green Building
> Studio, Inc. in order to clarify what we do (Our former name was
> GeoPraxis, Inc.) Members of our firm have been working with energy
> simulation software for approximately 15 years, we have engineering and
> analysis staff who do exactly the type of work as other members of
> BLDG-SIM.  We want to eliminate the drudgery associated with building
> energy simulation, increase its use, and educate everyone in the
> process.  If we can do these things (with the help of many), we will all
> spend more time on the work we enjoy and that truly adds value to the
> design process.
>
> I hope this helps.  I will ask John Kennedy (the president of our firm
> and lead developer of Green Building Studio) to weigh in with more
> information when he is available.
>
> Pat
>
> ___________________________________
> Pat Bailey, PE
> Vice President
> Green Building Studio, Inc.
> 205 Keller Street, #202
> Petaluma, CA 94952
>
> 707-766-7010 - phone
> 707-766-7014 - fax
>
> pbailey at greenbuildingstudio.com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* bldg-sim at gard.com [mailto:bldg-sim at gard.com] *On Behalf Of
> *Sheila Sagerer
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 21, 2005 6:25 AM
> *To:* bldg-sim at gard.com
> *Subject:* [bldg-sim] Green Building Studio
>
> Good Morning All-
>
> I have not had the opportunity to try the GBS set yet, but I was at a
> seminar for it back in September.  As I understand the process and
> stated below, there is very little control from the GBS site on detailed
> inputs.  But, the GBS site is supposed to automatically generate an
> eQuest input file (*.inp) that can be downloaded for the energy
> modeler's use.  This would save us modelers A LOT of input time just in
> creating the building while still allowing us to have the ability to
> tweak occupancy, schedules and other pertinent details to our
> satisfaction and do troubleshooting.  At least we would have a
> time-saving starting point??
>
> Happy Holidays.
>
> Sheila Sagerer
> Energy Engineer, LEED AP
> Energy Opportunities, Inc / a 7group company
> Ph: 717-880-9069
> Fax:  717-291-9497
>
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     *From:* bldg-sim at gard.com [mailto:bldg-sim at gard.com]*On Behalf Of
>     *Mohit Mehta
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, December 20, 2005 8:47 PM
>     *To:* bldg-sim at gard.com
>     *Subject:* [bldg-sim] Green Building Studio
>
>     Good dialogue!
>
>     Out of curiosity - we actually tried this GBS website – all we did
>     was open the Revit file (of one of our projects), exported to GBXML
>     and load it into the geopraxis site. Took all of 10-15 min. The site
>     asks some basic information about location, project statistics, and
>     energy statistics (you can enter your own or go with their database
>     of energy costs based on your zip code) and ran their report. All
>     pretty straightforward.  The project architect (from the design
>     team) input this himself and forwarded the output to me for feedback.
>
>     The output that we got was not up to par (aware that it depends on
>     what/how it was input in the first place). Some quick basic
>     observations on the output summary -
>
>         * The annual electric/fuel breakdown was missing quite a few
>           categories.
>         * I am not sure what or how the schedules are input for this
>           building. It never asked for that input.
>         * The envelope/glazing interpretations were suspect
>         * The cooling load was way off (on the high side)
>
>     The information on the report is a starting point but I am not sure
>     who this report is exactly meant for. Is it for the architect to
>     interpret and make changes or is it for the engineer/modeler who
>     interprets the report and gives his feedback to the architect to
>     make the necessary changes? There is a lot missing from the process
>     of defining, inputting and getting a legitimate output that can be
>     troubleshot if something looks amiss, to feel very confident about
>     it. I mean, even in the most accurate of models there is a +-5-15%
>     error margin, if not more. In this a lot was unclear to me. It saved
>     us some time but are we willing to make design/mechanical changes
>     based on it? Personally, I am more comfortable if the process is
>     under my control where I can tweak the various inputs and directly
>     see the impacts that they might have. And I am sure most of us in
>     this ‘group’ feel the same.
>
>     We will be looking at it more in depth soon.
>
>     My two cents – Happy Holidays
>
>     ~m
>
>
>
>     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>
>     *From:* bldg-sim at gard.com [mailto:bldg-sim at gard.com] *On Behalf Of
>     *Zoeteman, Mark R.
>     *Sent:* Monday, December 19, 2005 6:41 AM
>     *To:* bldg-sim at gard.com
>     *Subject:* [bldg-sim] Green Building Studio
>
>
>
>     Have bldg-sim users seen this yet (sounds too good to be true):
>
>     Teams use their existing computer-aided design systems to
>     communicate a project's building geometry to the GBS website, which
>     conducts an energy analysis of the building design. The program
>     enables the design team to look at the energy impact of early design
>     decisions, compare alternatives, and share information more broadly
>     with other team members.
>
>     http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/CA6281244.html?text=computer
>
>
>
>     It provides whole building energy analysis using the widely accepted
>     building analysis program, DOE-2, at no charge to the design team.
>     GBS is accessed from within the design team’s 3D-CAD software.
>
>     http://www.greenbuildingstudio.com/About.aspx
>
>
>
>     Mark Zoeteman
>     FTC&H, Inc.
>     _mrzoeteman at ftch.com_
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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