Energy Plus works just great for LEED projects' energy analysis.
My experience indicates that it's really handy for rotating the baseline building, since you only need to change one variable to get a new orientation.
There has been some discussion in this list and the Bldg-Sim list recently regarding whether you must also rotate the SHGF to maintain the "north" and "non-north" glazing properties while you rotate. I haven't gone through the details thoroughly, but it's my opinion that the intent is to rotate the glazing properties should with the building. I use a Word macro to do that semi-automatically.
Pay attention to setting up report variables such that all the LEED energy categories are reported for you. Also, use an .rvi file to keep the report variables organized. The .rvi file is a bit annoying when you forget to give it the identical name to the .idf file, but it's worth the trouble. I generally paste ("values only") the .csv output from my E+ run into an Excel spreadsheet which is nicely formatted for easy reading and review.
I use Designbulder for creating geometry, and it works well (although not yet up to E+ v3.0). Others are using the SketchUp plugin. My opinion is that the geometry piece is the portion most difficult to keep organized, so a graphical interface is crucial!
Defining HVAC and electrical systems is a difficult task within E+, since there are so many variables and the IDF Editor is a bit crude. Once again, I've set up Excel "modules" for many of the E+ objects. This allows a somewhat easier method of making sure object and node naming is consistent between related object. It's also a handy way for a guy who grew up with the US system of measure to convert to SI easily!
No EQuest experience, so I can't tell you anything on that topic.
--- In EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "jilldalglish" <jilldalglish@...> wrote: > > Hello Group, > > This is my first post. I am a new user and would love some help. > > 1. Is anyone here using Energy Plus for LEED submittals or know anyone > who is? > > 2. Does anyone know how hard/easy it is to transition from eQuest to > Energy Plus? > > 3. How are you using Eplus? Do you set up modules that automate the > basics or typical entries and reuse them, meaning if my company wants > to switch to Eplus there might be an initial set-up of typical > components, but modeling time would be equal or less than eQuest after > that? > > Thanks so much, > Jill >
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