OpenStudio Visualizes Energy Use in Buildings

Look around you. Odds are, you are indoors reading this story using a computer or mobile device, perhaps sipping on a favorite cup of coffee. If you are indoors at this moment, you're draining energy from one of the largest consumers of energy in the U.S. — a building. Together, residential and commercial buildings account for a staggering 40 percent of energy use in the United States. However, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is developing a suite of tools to tame this energy beast — and it is free to anyone who wants to use it.

Whether retrofitting existing buildings or designing new buildings, energy modeling is a core component to changing a building from an energy guzzler to an energy sipper. "It's much cheaper to run an energy model than it is to build the wrong building or do the wrong retrofit," said NREL Senior Engineer Nicholas Long.
DOE's EnergyPlus is a powerful simulation engine that provides comprehensive building energy modeling. NREL is working to add tools to EnergyPlus, via its OpenStudio Application Suite, to improve overall functionality and make EnergyPlus easier to use.
"OpenStudio uses open source code so if someone wants a feature that we don't have the time or the funds to write, there are two options," Goldwasser said. "First, they can write that code and submit it to us. We look at it and decide if it gets accepted and works with what we want. Another option is for them is to use an API [application programming interface] and 'plug-in' to our software and write applications without changing our code."
Source: NERL

Posted in: energy guzzler,Energy Savings,energy sipper,Energy Use in Buildings,Green energy,Open Source,OpenStudio