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[EnergyPlus_Support] Version 3.0 is released



EnergyPlus Version 3.0 Available
 
The latest release of the EnergyPlus building energy simulation program, Version 3.0, was completed on November 13, 2008 and is now available in versions for both the Windows and Linux operating systems. (Macintosh version will be available within a few days.)  A few key new features include ventilated slab, fully-coupled 1-D finite element heat and moisture transport model, thermal chimney, CoolTower, additional detailed refrigeration component models, DC-to-AC inverter and simple battery, and direct output to SQLite. We have updated and extended capabilities throughout the existing building envelope, daylighting, and HVAC equipment and systems portions of the program.
 
EnergyPlus V 3.0 is available at no cost from the EnergyPlus web site:  www.energyplus.gov.

Energy Design Plugin for Google SketchUp: The Energy Design Plugin is a free plugin for the GoogleSketchUp 3D drawing program. The plugin makes it easy to create and edit the building geometry in your EnergyPlus input files. The plugin also allows you to launch EnergyPlus simulations and view the results without leaving SketchUp.

EnergyPlus Example File Generator: A Web-based service is available that creates and runs EnergyPlus input files for simple models of commercial buildings. The input files (and annual results summary files) are sent to your e-mail address as attachments. This is a pilot project and is currently made available only as a BETA service. You can access the service and customize the characteristics of the building you want to model on the EnergyPlus Example File Generator Application (pop-ups must be enabled).
The set of example input files now includes full-blown models of typical new construction (drawn from the DOE Commercial Benchmarks project).

What's New in Version 3.0?
 
Datasets
·         Refrigerant properties for R404a, R410a, and R507a added to the refrigerant database.
·         New library of compressor performance curves for refrigeration systems created.
·         New performance curves for condensing and high-temperature boilers.
·         California Title 24 Time Dependent Valuation (TDV) factor schedules (2008) dataset added.
·         California Title 24 operating schedules dataset added.
 
Input
·         Version 3.0 includes widespread changes to input syntax. The complete set of input objects was revised to make EnergyPlus?s input ?language? more consistent, logical, and informative. Although the majority of words used to describe input object names, field names and key choices have changed, the underlying meanings remain the same. (Yes, this will require substantial changes to input data files--aided by the Transition program which can be accessed through the EP-Launch utility.)
·         New examples input files for all new features.
 
Zone Model
·         New Ventilated Slab model includes radiant heating and cooling interactions with hollow core slabs
·         Infiltration models now allow air flow rate per unit of exterior wall area as an optional input.
·         Pipe heat transfer loads added into zone air heat balance calculations.
·         New optional algorithms for fully-coupled, 1-D finite element heat and moisture transport model for simulating the movement and storage of heat & moisture in and through building surfaces.
·         Moisture transfer function and moisture finite difference models removed.
·         The algorithm for variable system timestep was revised. Changes include uniform system timestep length across zone timestep and stricter management of history terms for zone air conditions.
 
Natural and Mechanical Ventilation
·         Additional hybrid (mixed-mode) ventilation controls added to allow global control of surface openings based on master zone, limit opening levels based on wind speed, and allow control of Mixing and Ventilation objects.
·         Temperature limit controls added to Mixing and Cross-Mixing objects.
·         New Thermal Chimney model added--uses solar radiation to enhance natural ventilation.
·         New CoolTower model added--uses natural evaporative cooling to cool incoming air.
·         Added new outside air minimum and maximum fractions to easily model 100% (or any fixed value) OA systems, leakage or stuck OA dampers.
 
HVAC
·         Refrigeration system capabilities expanded with more detailed component models. Users can now simulate: (1) variable evaporating temperatures, (2) variable condensing temperatures, (3) mechanical subcoolers that transfer refrigeration loads from less efficient low- temperature systems to more efficient medium-temperature systems, and (4) liquid suction subcoolers.
·         Improved error trapping for refrigerant and glycol properties at extreme temperatures and pressures.
·         Single-speed cooling towers can now use fluid bypass as capacity control, saving water but requiring more fan energy.
·         New linear curve to complement other curve objects.
·         Absorption chiller now can connect to steam or hot water loop.
·         Enhanced absorption chiller model added.
·         Radiant-convective baseboard model added.
·         Boiler model upgraded to include performance curve which accounts for load as function of operating temperatures.
·         Set Point Managers now test for control node conflicts.
·         New system availability managers added: Scheduled On, and Scheduled Off.
·         New Underground Pipe object added; upgraded Pipe Heat Transfer objects.
·         New Fluid Cooler objects added--single and two-speed dry cooling towers for hydronic loops.
·         Component sizing factors added for boilers, chillers, and cooling towers.
·         Added chilled water thermal storage tank models for both mixed and stratified tanks.
 
On-Site Energy Supply
·         PV model restructured to separately model inverters and storage systems.
·         DC-to-AC inverter model added along with simple battery model.
·         Simple Photovoltaic-Thermal model added for pre-heating outside air and hot water heating.
 
Economics
·         Energy cost calculations now includes real time pricing, minimum monthly charge, and buy/sell/net metering as new inputs
·         A new monetary unit object (Currency Type) added
·         Additional economic reporting of energy and demand for each charge
 
Output
·         SQLite added as another output format option, providing optional export of time-series results directly to database.
 
Utilities
·         EP-Launch now handles blank weather files as if no weather file is specified in group simulations.
·         IDF Editor new features include wrapping long text strings over multiple lines within cells, required fields now shown with blue field names, and added recently used file list.
·         WinEPDraw can be used with older (pre V3) files as well as V3 files - if placed in the proper folder.
 
Documentation and Guides
·         Input/Output Reference and Engineering Reference updated and extended for all new features and updates and renaming. Total documentation now exceeds 3800 pages.
 
And many other enhancements and speed improvements throughout. 
See http://www.energyplus.gov/features.html  for a complete list of new features added in this and previous versions.
Suggestion: get as much memory as possible in your computer for running EnergyPlus.  A recent team upgrade from 1.8GHZ machine with 768MB memory to a 2.1GHZ machine with 2GB memory caused one file to go from a full annual simulation (5 zones) at about 8 minutes to a 2-1/4 minute run on the newer machine.


Update on User Interfaces and Tools?

Many user interfaces that create and run EnergyPlus input files and display results graphically are available (Demand Response Quick Assessment Tool, DesignBuilder, Easy EnergyPlus, EFEN, Hevacomp, and HLCP) and under development (ComFen, TREATPlus and EPlusInterface).  Check our web site ( http://www.energyplus.gov/ep_interfaces.html ) for up-to-date information on these and other interfaces.
Utilities and tools for creating, editing, and running input files that come with EnergyPlus include IDF Editor, EP-Launch, and HVAC-Diagram (see http://www.energyplus.gov/ep_utilities.html ). Third party tools for creating, editing, and displaying EnergyPlus input files are also available, including DrawBDL, EcoTect, EnergyPlugged, ESP-r, Green Building Studio, EzDrawPlus, IFCtoIDF, TSe+, and EzPlus-Parm.  See http://www.energyplus.gov/third_party_tools.html for more information.
 
 
EnergyPlus Training Workshops
 
We will continue to offer training workshops throughout 2008 and 2009.  For more information, please see:  http://www.gard.com/training.htm
 

What?s going on in V3.0.0?
 
Will there be any considerable difference between version 2.2 and 3.0?
Yes.... and no.  The basic structure of EnergyPlus is still as it has been but there are some significant changes that you will want to be aware of.
As always, there are a number of new features and bug fixes.  The highlights of features for this version are listed below­see www.energyplus.gov/features.html for a complete list of new features added in this and previous versions.
How about IDF and IDD? Do they remain unchanged?
There has been a whole scale revamping of the IDD/IDF naming structure and the names of most objects and key values have changed. Your best option is to use the included Transition program if you want to use any older version files.
Is version 3.0 backward compatible? Can I run v2.2 file in v3.0?
See previous item. There are many changes that require you to use the transition program for V3.0. EP-Launch can check the selected file (if there is a version object) and you can launch the Transition program from the EP-Launch ?File? menu. You can also view the ObjectStatus spreadsheet in the root folder of the installed version. This file has detailed explanations of changes to the objects. There is also a new option for the transition program that allows you to supply a list of files and it will convert them for you. The transition program is described more fully in the Auxiliary Programs document. In addition, we can make available a zip file of all transitions programs and batch files such that files can be taken from much earlier versions to current version.

EnergyPlus Weather Data
 
Weather data for more than 2000 locations worldwide are available on the EnergyPlus web site:  http://www.energyplus.gov/cfm/weather_data.cfm   (This includes a new weather data set for New Zealand.  New data for China and Australia should be available soon.) 
 
If you know of other weather data for your country that you'd be willing to share with the EnergyPlus user community, please contact Dru Crawley (Drury.Crawley@xxxxxxxxxx ).
 

EnergyPlus Helpdesk
 
A helpdesk system has been set up for managing EnergyPlus user support requests. The helpdesk system includes a download area, a knowledge base and troubleshooting area. To submit new support requests (tickets) or search the knowledge base, please go to energyplus.helpserve.com .  You may also submit new issues, files and reply to tickets via e-mail at EnergyPlus-Support@xxxxxxxx. This address has been linked to the helpdesk since early May 2008.  This is the best way to get your specific EnergyPlus questions answered.
 

EnergyPlus_Support Group at YahooGroups
 
Are you a commercial or academic user of EnergyPlus?  Join more than 1800 EnergyPlus users in the user-to-user email group on YahooGroups­a place to ask questions and share information with other EnergyPlus users. The YahooGroup also provides a searchable archive of all 7+ years of discussion. You can also upload files to share with other users. While the EnergyPlus development team does monitor the YahooGroup list, the best place for individualized support is the EnergyPlus Helpdesk.
 
The main web page for the group is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EnergyPlus_Support
 
To subscribe, send an email message to:
EnergyPlus_Support-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
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 http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/un.html
 

BLDG-SIM
 
Join the free e-mail list for users of all building energy simulation programs. Ask other knowledgeable simulation program users your questions--about EnergyPlus and other simulation programs. See http://lists.onebuilding.org/listinfo.cgi/bldg-sim-onebuilding.org   for information on joining this email list.
 
Thanks!
 
The EnergyPlus Team
 
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The primary EnergyPlus web site is found at:
http://www.energyplus.gov

The group web site is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EnergyPlus_Support/

Attachments are not allowed -- please post any files to the appropriate folder in the Files area of the Support Web Site.

EnergyPlus Documentation is searchable.  Open EPlusMainMenu.pdf under the Documentation link and press the "search" button.




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