Team DesignBuilder recently received the award for the “Best Innovative Workflow” at the ASHRAE Energy Modeling Conference “LowDown Showdown” competition. We’d like to show you the optimisation tools and techniques used by the team that brought something a little different to the competition in a live webinar on 19th November.
Register for your free place on the webinar
ASHRAE’s requirement was to design a medium size net zero energy (or below) office building. Although cost wasn’t part of the competition brief it is an important constraint in most projects so the team decided on a 3-step advanced cost-benefit analysis approach using DesignBuilder’s optimisation capability.
DesignBuilder Optimisation uses a genetic algorithm which mimics the "survival of the fittest” principle of natural evolution to efficiently identify the best combination of design variables such as orientation, insulation, glazing, lighting and HVAC. This makes it possible to find optimum solutions much more quickly than traditional methods, providing the design team and client with an added level of confidence that all viable solutions have been identified.
This webinar will explain the 3-step optimisation process and show the tools used: (1) optimising the building form to minimise heating and cooling loads (fabric first approach); (2) optimising the HVAC and lighting systems etc. to meet those loads; (3) fine-tuning the design including optimising the set-point and set-back temperatures and optimising the PV design via interoperability with other tools such as Grasshopper.
Using DesignBuilder Optimisation, which is unique amongst mainstream software tools, enabled the team to identify the optimum net-zero solution and also to quantify the cost-benefit of higher
__._,_.___
Posted by: David Cocking <David.Cocking@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Primary EnergyPlus support is found at:
http://energyplus.helpserve.com or send a message to energyplus-support@xxxxxxxx
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 currently allowed but be mindful that not everyone has a high speed connection. Limit attachments to small files.
EnergyPlus Documentation is searchable. Open EPlusMainMenu.pdf under the Documentation link and press the "search" button.
__,_._,___