[Bldg-sim] EPact 2005 tax savings

[Crawley, Drury]

Any tool that has the required documentation is reviewed promptly by DOE and the results posted if the tool meets the qualification requirements. No documentation for eQuest has been submitted to DOE to date.


________________________________

From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org 
To: Xiaobing Liu ; Joe Huang 
Cc: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org ; David Goldstein 
Sent: Wed Feb 25 19:25:31 2009
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] EPact 2005 tax savings 


Joe, thanks for shedding some light on the acceptance criteria and how it compares to other approaches.
 
It is truly a shame that eQUEST has not been approved yet. I do not know what the hold up is but I believe the program was submitted years ago to DOE for acceptance. VisualDOE was accepted a couple of months after its application was submitted. It makes you wonder what DOE 2.2 is missing that DOE 2.1E has. Better submittal documentation?
 
eQUEST is probably the most widely used program for performing simulation analysis in the U.S. With our current administration's initiative to promote an energy-efficient economy and have Federal Buildings achieve 30% better performance than 90.1-2004, it is inconsistent that this program is not fast-tracked for acceptance. With construction costs climbing dramatically, these tax incentives could go a long way to help achieve what they were designed for - promoting energy efficient buildings in the U.S. 
 
If anyone on BLDG-SIM can provide insights into why eQUEST has not been accepted, please share this with the rest of us. And if no explanation can be provided, perhaps we can use our BLDG-SIM critical mass to encourage DOE and/or the software developers to push this through the acceptance process.
 
Ellen
 
 
Ellen Franconi, Ph.D., LEED AP
Energy Analysis Group Manager
Architectural Energy Corporation
2540 Frontier Avenue
Boulder, CO 80301
tel. 303-444-4149
fax 303-444-4303
efranconi at archenergy.com
http://www.archenergy.com/


>>> Joe Huang <joe at drawbdl.com> 02/25/09 2:17 PM >>>
I frankly don't understand the criteria of acceptance for software 
approval.  It seems to accept any program that's self-described as 
capable of dynamic simulations with time-varying inputs and outputs, and 
has gone through the ASHRAE/ANSI Standard 140 comparisons. But Standard 
140 is just a cross-program comparison for very simplified cases, sort 
of digital hot-box experiments, if you will.  Does this mean that all 
simulations done with these programs are valid and credible ?  Any DOE-2 
simulation ? Any EnergyPlus simulation ? Of course not.  It's all in the 
inputs, and if the inputs or modeling are faulty, the results could be 
all over the map.   If we compare this criteria of acceptance to 
California's Title-24 Certification of compliance programs, the 
approaches are almost completely opposite.  Here, the criteria are 
whether the programs have the right fundamentals or "intentions" ; 
there, the criteria are whether the programs give the right results.  
I'm afraid we're leaving the barn door open for a lot of questionable 
claims backed up by the use (or abuse) of supposedly approved software.

Joe Huang



Xiaobing Liu wrote:
> As I remember, Green Building Studio (GBS) is on the list. Since GBS 
> runs eQUEST (and other software?) behind the screen, can the tax 
> credits be granted if the building performance simulation is conducted 
> by eQUEST through GBS. I'm a bit confused here. Can anyone shed light 
> on this issue?
>  
> Xiaobing
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     *From:* bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
>     [mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org]*On Behalf Of
>     *David S Eldridge
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:22 PM
>     *To:* bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
>     *Subject:* Re: [Bldg-sim] EPact 2005 tax savings
>
>     It is currently not submitted for approval.
>
>     ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
>
>      
>
>     David Eldridge, PE
>
>     LEED® AP
>
>
>     *Grumman/Butkus Associates* | 820 Davis Street, STE 300 |
>     Evanston, IL 60201 | Ph: (847) 328-3555, ext 224 | Fax: (847) 328-4550
>
>      
>
>     Energy Consultants and Design Engineers
>     ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
>
>      
>
>      
>
>      
>
>     *From:* bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
>     [mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] *On Behalf Of
>     *Chris Mullinax
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:26 PM
>     *To:* bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
>     *Subject:* [Bldg-sim] EPact 2005 tax savings
>
>      
>
>      
>
>     http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/qualified_software.html
>
>      
>
>     Epact 2005 tax credits were extended to 2013 in the recent
>     “Stimulus Package.”
>
>      
>
>     I’m looking at a page on the DOE web site that lists approved
>     software used obtain Epact 2005 tax credits, and I notice eQuest
>     is not specifically listed. DOE-2.1 is listed however. Does anyone
>     know if eQuest will be acceptable for EPact 2005 simulations?
>
>      
>
>     The link to the list is given above.
>
>     Any help is appreciated.
>
>      
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Chris Mullinax, P.E. LEED AP
>
>      
>
>     pn: 770-387-1334
>
>     fx:  770-387-1383
>
>     chris at mullinaxsolutions.com <mailto:chris at mullinaxsolutions.com>
>
>     www.mullinaxsolutions.com <http://www.mullinaxsolutions.com>
>
>      
>
>      
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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