[Bldg-sim] EnergyPlus V8.2.0 Release

[Michael J Witte]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released EnergyPlus V8.2.0, the 
first release of EnergyPlus built on C++ source code.  New feature 
highlights are listed below.  For more information about EnergyPlus, 
please visit www.energyplus.gov

Installers and source code for V8.2.0 are available at 
https://github.com/NREL/EnergyPlusRelease/releases

The EnergyPlus Development Team

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Highlights of this release (V8.2.0)

Core Changes to EnergyPlus
*Internal simulation engine code translated from FORTRAN to C++ to spur 
the evolution of EnergyPlus through improved interaction with a larger 
community through a more popular code base, and improved access to code 
libraries for performance and enhanced capabilities.

*Language change initially caused a slightly slower codebase due to 
translation overhead, however several restructuring efforts in the code 
eventually led to EnergyPlus V8.2.0 being faster than V8.1 in many tests 
cases.

*Development transitioned to GitHub, where the source code is to be made 
fully public in the spirit of the open source license.

General
*Bug fixes throughout.

Building Envelope
*Integrated slab calculation now allow improved simulation of ground 
heat transfer

HVAC, Plant and Refrigeration
*Improved sizing algorithm for including fan heat in cooling coil 
calculations
*Improved sizing input options for scaling autosized values
*Additional plant load dispatch algorithms based on meeting component 
part-loading targets
*New models for single-sided natural ventilation with multiple openings
*New on/off fan option for unit heater and unit ventilator
*New fault model for coil fouling
*DOAS direct to zonal water-to-air heat pumps
*Expanded support for table lookup for plant equipment performance
*New zone air mass flow balance option (partially link HVAC flows with 
zone mixing and infiltration)

Utilities
*Ice storage curve-fit tool

Platforms
*Windows 7 & 8: 64-bit version (32-bit may be available via Helpdesk)
*Linux (Ubuntu 14.04 and compatible) 64 bit versions; (32-bit and 
RHEL-compatible versions may be available via Helpdesk)
*Mac OSX 10.9 64 bit versions
*EnergyPlus V8.2.0 has been tested on all of these platforms