I have only used DesignBuilder, so I could tell you a little about it based on my experience. DesignBuilder is a building energy simulation software with a graphic interface that allows you to easily draw the facility and specify all the building loads on it. Afterward, you can run a simulation on the building that will give you building energy consumption broken into zones and other comfort and temperature data for each zone or the entire building. You can export the idf file from DB into EnergyPlus and make extra modifications if necessary.
I had to model a manufacturing facility as part of my thesis work and used DB to draw the building and specify the loads on it. I exported it to E+ to modify the HVAC system and loads. For my work, DB was adequate. It really depends on the type of building you are modeling. DB works better for commercial and retail buildings, hospitals, schools, etc. than for manufacturing facilities. But, after exporting the DB idf file and tweaking the inputs in E+, I got it to work for what I was doing.
Hope this helps.
Dimos Triantafillu
--- On Sun, 3/22/09, pravin <pravinmumbai@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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