[bldg-sim] Green Building Studio

Pat Bailey pbailey at greenbuildingstudio.com
Wed Dec 21 13:04:19 PST 2005


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>
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>
http://www.greenbuildingstudio.com/About.aspx 

 

Mark Zoeteman 
FTC&H, Inc. 
mrzoeteman at ftch.com 

 

 
 
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