[BLDG-SIM] EnergyPlus Version 1.4.0 Now Available

[Drury.Crawley at EE.DOE.GOV]

EnergyPlus Version 1.4.0 Now Available

The thirteenth major version of EnergyPlus (1.4.0) was released on October
12, 2006 and is now available in versions for both the Windows and Linux
operating systems.  Download at no cost from the EnergyPlus web site:
www.energyplus.gov.


What's New in Version 1.4.0?

A few of the new features in EnergyPlus V 1.4 are listed below--see
www.energyplus.gov/features.html for a complete list of new features added
in this and previous versions:

* NEW water manager to control and report water use throughout the building
including HVAC components, zone-level water end-use objects that allow hot
and cold water mixing at the tap, zone latent gains, drainwater heat
recovery, rainwater collectors for harvesting precipitation, groundwater
wells with pumping, water storage tanks for storing and reusing reclaimed
water.

* New Zone thermostatic control options including operative temperature and
thermal comfort control using Fanger PMV values as setpoints.

* New simple duct leakage model for VAV system with return plenum

* New reformulated version of the DOE 2.1E EIR chiller based on the PG&E
Cool Tools project.

* Window and door multipliers and triangular doors are now allowed.

* Exterior window screens can now be modeled more accurately.

* New predefined reports to aid in complying with beyond-code programs such
as the new commercial building tax deduction including input verification
and results, climate, envelope and equipment summaries.

And many other enhancements and significant speed improvements throughout.


Update on User Interfaces?

EP-Quick creates an EnergyPlus input file based on a broad range of zone
templates (released in April 2005).  E2AC is an interface in Portuguese and
English (available since January 2005).  DesignBuilder, a graphic user
interface, was released in December 2005.  Hevacomp uses EnergyPlus as its
simulation engine (2006). EFEN is now available in beta version for users
to test.  Green Building Studio can take an existing CAD file and convert
to an EnergyPlus input file. Several other interfaces are under
development.  Watch our web site (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, 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,  ESP-r, Green Building Studio,
EzDrawPlus, IFCtoIDF, TSe+, and EzPlus-Parm.  See
www.energyplus.gov/third_party_tools.html for more information.


EnergyPlus Training Workshops

We are planning workshop on the west coast in late 2006 or early 2007.  For
more information, please see:  http://www.gard.com/training.htm


EnergyPlus_Support Group at YahooGroups

Are you a commercial or academic user of EnergyPlus?  Join more than 1050
EnergyPlus users in an email group on YahooGroups--a place to ask your
questions of and share information with other EnergyPlus users. The
YahooGroup also provides a searchable archive of all 5-1/2 years of
discussion--more than 7000 email messags (search there first to find an
answer to your question). You can also upload files to share with other
users. This group supplements but does not replace the primary support
email address of  EnergyPlus-Support at gard.com.

      The main web 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 constantly 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 and other building simulation tools?
Subscribe to the bi-monthly electronic newsletter for users of EnergyPlus,
DOE-2, BLAST, Genopt, SPARK, and Energy-10.   See
simulationresearch.lbl.gov/un.html


Thanks!

The EnergyPlus Team




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