[Bldg-sim] LEED and Title-24 and E-Quest and ASHRAE-90.1

[RobertWichert]

I am in need of some help and guidance on using E-Quest to qualify for 
LEED credits.  I am working on a California project with water source 
heat pumps, that was initially analyzed using Energy Pro and showed 
barely passing Title-24 requirements.   The majority of high usage was 
in the cooling tower fans, which appeared to be modeled as running 
whenever a cooling load was present.   We were then asked to try for 
LEED certification and knowing that the Energy Pro run was barely 
passing, we needed a better modeling tool and probably a more efficient 
system.  In order to model this better, we decided to use E-Quest so we 
could put individual cooling tower cells into the model and also use 
some add-ons provided by Climate Master for their higher efficiency 
units .  The first run of E-Quest failed to pass the Title-24 
requirements. 

I admit to being inexperienced on E-Quest, but I did read everything I 
could find and followed every guidance I could find, but I could fine 
nothing about using E-Quest to compare with ASHRAE 90.1 (which I believe 
is an option for LEED certification).  I also believe that when the 
Title-24 compliance run is done, some default values are used that may 
make our project seem less efficient, so I am trying to work around that 
as well.

I would appreciate hearing any ideas that anyone has, but I would most 
appreciate finding some written guidance regarding using E-Quest to 
qualify for LEED certification.  Alternatively, any written guidance 
that is available regarding using E-Quest for comparison with ASHRAE 
90.1 (which I do believe would allow for LEED certification) would be 
helpful.  I have found nothing on these topics in any of the published 
E-Quest documentation that I have found.  One guide says that comparison 
with 90.1 is "planned for the future" but that is about it.  That guide 
was published in 2003, so I hope that we are in the future, but I do not 
know for sure.

Lastly, if anyone has any written or anecdotal guidance regarding using 
E-Quest to show compliance with Title-24, I'd really like to see that 
too.  Is there something that prevents E-Quest from using the actual 
model set (not the defaults) that can be defeated to show compliance?  
Again, I am not asking for somebody to show me how to do it, just for 
somebody to show me an FAQ or a publication of some sort that I can use 
in this situation.

Lastly, if I fail to figure this out, if there is someone who would be 
willing to work as a consultant on the project, please contact me 
off-list at 916 966 9060 or via robert at wichert.org .  E-Mail is probably 
best.

Thanks for your time in reading this and for any advice that you might 
provide.

Sincerely,


Robert Wichert, P. Eng
916 966 9060