In October we launched Project EnergyPlus Cloud and put a call out to any interested beta testers. Less than a month later, we’ve had over 175 users apply for the service—exceeding the 100 slots we originally had available. Though we reached our limit, you can still submit your application. Users are currently given a four week trial period after their application is accepted, which means admissions are rolling.
We thought it would be interesting to share some of the user demographics of these early adopters. Admittedly, we didn’t enter this project with a predefined user demographic. Instead, we’ve taken a step back and are currently watching the user define themselves.
25% of users identify as energy modelers, followed by 20% as architects, and 18% as engineers.
When asked how they will be using the results generated from EnergyPlus Cloud, users most frequently selected:
- For early design decision making (compare design alternatives)
- For high performance building design
- For existing building energy analysis (modeling and calibration)
Some of us were surprised to see existing buildings land in the top three—it hasn’t always made the cut in the past. More significant is that the use of EnergyPlus for code compliance is not among the top, even with the simulation requirements in recent ASHRAE 90.1-2013 and California’s Title 24 compliance standards.
28% of users use EnergyPlus, followed by 16% using DesignBuilder, and 14% using eQuest.
Not a big surprise here. It makes sense that the early adopters of EnergyPlus Cloud are going to rank EnergyPlus/DesignBuilder as a frequently used energy modeling tool.
Among those who use EnergyPlus, the most frequently used IDF authoring tools are Design Builder, Open Studio, OS SketchUp Plugin, and EP-Launch/ IDF Editor.
This indicates the importance of user-interfaces for EnergyPlus, more than 50% of applicants use some form of graphical user interface. Special shout out to those 16 users who are manually creating IDFs in a text editor.
This is just a representation of our early adopters thus far. As we continue to receive feedback and advance EnergyPlus Cloud we are interested if and how our users will change.
What do you think? Does this represent an early adopter demographic? Or does it represent the larger EnergyPlus user community? If you currently do not use EnergyPlus, why not?
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