[Bldg-sim] DOE Commercial Building Benchmark Models for eQuest or EnergyPlus to eQuest Converter

[Varkie C Thomas]

Attached are my views on USDOE developed energy programs - DOE21E and EnergyPlus

----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Huang <yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 2:09 am
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] DOE Commercial Building Benchmark Models for eQuest or EnergyPlus to eQuest Converter

> 
> Sorry, the last -email got sent inadvertently when I was searching 
> for 
> the Web link!  Please go to the end of this e-mail to get "the 
> rest of 
> the story"!
> 
> Joe
> 
> (BTW: in the spirit of full disclosure I'm probably  the "good 
> authority" to which Jeff referred....
> 
> (finishing up on my previous e-mail....)
> Since this topic has been brought to my attention from four 
> separate 
> sources in the last two months, I've decided to
> post a little history about my role in the development of what's 
> now 
> called the DOE Commercial Building Benchmarks
> (CBB) which may answer some of your questions
> 
> When I was still working at LBNL, I had worked for over ten years, 
> mostly for the Gas Research Institute but later for
> DOE, in developing prototypical buildings first for 60 multi-
> family 
> (1988), 128 single-family (1990), and then 481` commercial 
> buildings 
> (1992), all implemented in DOE-2.1E.
> 
> In 2004, I was asked by DOE to update the commercial building 
> prototypes  (16 building types x 2 vintages x 5 climate zones) to 
> then 
> current ASHRAE 90.1 requirements, refine the building geometry or 
> architectural layout to "real" buildings (something I wanted to 
> do), 
> convert the files from DOE-2 to EnergyPlus (something that DOE 
> wanted me 
> to do), and then share them with NREL and PNNL. That project 
> lasted for 
> two years (2005-2007), and resulted in the first version of what's 
> now 
> called the DOE Commercial Building Benchmarks, which were turned 
> over to 
> DOE, NREL, and PNNL in June 2007, just at which time I retired 
> from LBNL 
> (no cause and effect implied here, by any means!).
> 
> I've heard from others that NREL has continued to work on them, 
> which is 
> good because my modeling of the HVAC system and plant in 
> EnergyPlus was 
> shaky (more about why this was so later). However, since I've had 
> virtually no  communications with NREL about this since my 
> retirement,  
> I have no idea of what NREL has done with the (EnergyPlus) files 
> since 
> then. I suppose my retirement was a  convenient excuse  for 
> keeping me 
> out of the loop,
> although any of my friends or acquaintances know well that I'm 
> still 
> quite active in the field.
> 
> Most of the enquires I get about the CBB, like this current post, 
> ask 
> whether there are DOE-2 or eQUEST  versions.
> This strikes me as very ironic, since my original work was all 
> done in 
> DOE-2.1E, and even when I converted them to EnergyPlus, all the 
> development work was still done in DOE-2 and then converted to 
> EnergyPlus using doe2ep, a
> DOE-2.1E to EnergyPlus conversion program for which I'm also 
> responsible 
> on a Californiia Energy Commission project. In fact, my 
> deliverables to 
> DOE, NREL, and PNNL always contained two subdirectories - DOE-2 
> and 
> EnergyPlus, although  unsurprisingly the DOE-2 files were always 
> ignored.
> To tell the truth, I was never comfortable with the CBB released 
> only as 
> EnergyPlus files, because I felt that the real value of the CBB 
> lie in 
> the building characterizations, which should be independent of the 
> simulation program used.  I'm also
> not thrilled that the CBB exist as a hundred-some separate 
> EnergyPlus 
> IDF files (please correct me if that has changed. That's fine if 
> one 
> wants to simply rerun the files, but what would be the point of 
> doing 
> that?  In most cases, people want the files as templates  to 
> explore 
> various alternatives.
> 
> So, what is the current status of  the DOE-2 files that I created 
> for 
> the CBB Version 1?  They are publicly available on my  Web site at
> 
> http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com/Commercial_Prototypes_May7.htm
> 
> You'll notice that the file structure is the opposite of 
> individual 
> monolithic input files.There is a subdirectory for each building 
> type, 
> under which there are modules (actually *.inc include files) for 
> construction, schedules, loads, systems, etc.,
> that use extensively DOE-2 macros. When you want to do a run, you 
> specify the general specifics of the building of interest 
> (building 
> type, location, vintage, etc.) in a batch script (example 
> provided) that 
> then composes the individual
> DOE-2 input file, does a run, and then processes the output using 
> an awk 
> script. I've had a Research Associate at the Lab who once ported 
> this 
> system to Excel using VB, but I don't want to release that for 
> fear of 
> having to debug and
> maintain something with which I'm unfamiliar!
> 
> A couple of caveats:
> 1. these files are in DOE-2.1E and date from May 2007, i.e., 
> Version 1 
> of the CBB.
> 2. I've had discussions with several people interested to update 
> them to 
> the current version of the CBB, as well as to migrate the files to 
> eQUEST/DOE-2.2 . However, given that these have been volunteer 
> efforts, 
> there's no telling how much will be achieved (I've not had any 
> motivation to seek funding to do this, but I'd be interested to 
> explore 
> this if others are interested).
> 
> A last note: the reason that the EnergyPlus IDF that I gave 
> DOE/NREL/PNNL was weak in the system modeling was that I used 
> doe2ep to 
> translate the DOE-2 files to EnergyPlus. However, doe2ep could 
> translate 
> only 5 or 6 DOE-2
> System Types,  so I made all system types either VAVS, PVAVS, or 
> PSZ.  
> Status of doe2ep?  It's also 4 years out of date, which is why I'm 
> refraining from releasing it.
> 
> So that's the whole story. See, Jeff, now you've got me to finally 
> write 
> this down!
> 
> Joe
> 
> Joe Huang
> White Box Technologies, Inc.
> 346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 108D
> Moraga CA 94556
> yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
> www.whiteboxtechnologies.com
> (o) (925)388-0265
> (c) (510)928-2683
> "building energy simulations at your fingertips"
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff Haberl wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm told by a good authority that these files were created 
> originally as DOE-2.1e files and then converted to Energyplus. 
> However, the only versions available are EnergyPlus. There might 
> be a possibility that these could be made available if enough 
> people could use them.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> > 8=!  8=)  :=)  8=)  ;=)  8=)  8=(  8=)  8=()  8=)  8=|  8=)  
> :=')  8=)8=?
> >
> > Jeff S. Haberl, Ph.D.,P.E., FASHRAE..............jhaberl at tamu.edu
> >
> > 
> Professor............................................................Office Ph: 979-845-6507
> >
> > Department of Architecture.............................Lab 
> Ph:979-845-6065
> >
> > Energy Systems Laboratory.............................FAX: 979-
> 862-2457
> >
> > Texas A&M University.....................................77843-3581
> >
> > College Station, Texas, USA, 
> 77843..................URL:www.esl.tamu.edu>
> > 8=/  8=)  :=)  8=)  ;=)  8=)  8=()  8=)  :=)  8=)  8=!  8=)  8=? 
> 8=)8=0> ________________________________________
> > From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [bldg-sim-
> bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] on behalf of David Hostetter 
> [dhostetter at centerpointeng.net]> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 
> 7:01 AM
> > To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
> > Subject: [Bldg-sim] DOE Commercial Building Benchmark Models for 
> eQuest or      EnergyPlus to eQuest Converter
> >
> > All,
> > Does anyone know if the DOE Commercial Building Benchmark Models 
> are available as eQuest files, or if there is a way to convert 
> EnergyPlus files to eQuest?
> > Thanks in advance!!
> > Sincerely,
> > David P. Hostetter, E.I.T.
> > Mechanical Designer
> >
> > CenterPoint Engineering Inc.
> > 2 Market Plaza Way
> > Mechanicsburg, PA  17055
> > Phone:  717-795-8575
> > Fax:  717-795-9110
> > dhostetter at centerpointeng.net<mailto:dhostetter at centerpointeng.net>
> >
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