Building Performance Analysis

Team Autodesk’s Net-Positive Building Design at ASHRAE EMC

Previously we advertised the opportunity to join the Autodesk ASHRAE EMC team as part of the LowDown Showdown energy modeling challenge. On October 1st in Atlanta, that volunteer team of architects and modelers presented their final design. Eight software vendors participated in the challenge, with team members joining from several different countries and time zones. The primary goal of this challenge was to showcase the talents and skillsets of the team members and demonstrate workflow capabilities of software tools used to design a high performance building. The Autodesk team included Yung Nguyen from SC Engineers, San Diego, CA; Dustin Altschul... Read more →

EnergyPlus Cloud Labs Project opens access to all users

After six months of intense development, testing, and limited preview, EnergyPlus Cloud web service is now available to the broader user community. A wide range of EnergyPlus models have been submitted by users and new report features have been added based on user feedback. A few users have been able to take advantage of the cloud-based simulation service for very complex models, and complete simulation within 5 minutes compared to an hour or more on desktop computers. Several users are also experimenting with the RESTful API. The BPA team is now extending the technology preview to everyone without restriction. This... Read more →

HVAC Sizing and Load Calculations with EnergyPlus Cloud

As many of you know, the BPA team has been focused on improving EnergyPlus runtime and has achieved up to 20X faster simulation with the cloud. In order to reach this goal, several input parameters were optimized and output reports were limited to annual building utility summary reports (ABUPS). Based on user feedback and the immediate needs of designers, the BPA team has now added space heat gain summary (Figure 1) and zone load component summary (Figure 2) reports. These reports provide the peak heating and cooling loads in all zones, and include a breakdown of the load contributions from... Read more →

EnergyPlus Cloud API Webinar Posted

Last week we hosted a webinar on the EnergyPlus Cloud API. The recording is now available and you can view it here. To summarize the webinar, Pete Thompson covered the workflow for using the API as follows: Generate input file using an IDF authoring tool Submit IDF/EPW files Receive an email to download output Additionally, you can find the new C# project and Python code here. Thanks to all who attended and asked some great questions on the line. We hope you enjoyed it and learned enough about the EnergyPlus Cloud API to start using it. For any questions, comments,... Read more →

FREE Webinar & Online Workshop: EnergyPlus Cloud API

Join us for a FREE webinar later this month and learn about the EnergyPlus Cloud API. This webinar is intended to help users and software developers interested in using the EnergyPlus Cloud API. Attendees will be given hands-on training and be walked through the steps for using the API to submit input files and receive simulation results. Pete Thompson, Ph.D., Principal Engineer on the Building Performance Analysis team will lead this webinar. Thursday, March 26th 9:00 – 10:00 AM PT RSVP here by March 19th (space is limited) In order to take full advantage of this webinar, attendees are requested... Read more →

EnergyPlus Cloud Webinar Posted

Earlier this week we hosted a webinar on EnergyPlus Cloud. The recording is now available and you can view it here. Thanks to all who attended and asked some great questions on the line. We hope you enjoyed it and learned about our new EnergyPlus Cloud features. During the webinar, we conducted a few live polls. Similar to the early adopters of EnergyPlus Cloud we were interested in what role attendees identified most as, their current usage of EnergyPlus and EnergyPlus Cloud, the typical amount of time it took for them to perform an EnergyPlus simulation, their preferred authoring tool,... Read more →

Don’t forget to register: FREE EnergyPlus Cloud Webinar

On Tuesday next week we will be hosting a FREE webinar on EnergyPlus Cloud, its features, and application workflow. During the session Principal Engineer and Product Owner Krishnan Gowri will show you how to utilize EnergyPlus Cloud in addition to facilitating an open forum discussion for feedback. Tuesday, February 10th 9:00 – 10:00 AM PST Register here. Webinar attendees will receive 1 AIA LU. Get your hands on EnergyPlus Cloud right now. Access the project on Autodesk Labs. Related articles FREE Webinar: Cloud-based Energy Simulation using EnergyPlus Newest Release of Project Energy Cost Range Includes an HVAC Widget and ASHRAE... Read more →

Newest Release of Project Energy Cost Range Includes an HVAC Widget and ASHRAE 90.1 Benchmarks

In December we announced the release of Project Energy Cost Range for the web as Technology Preview, available on Autodesk Labs. We have just released the latest version, which now includes an HVAC widget, and a Design Potential widget to easily compare various benchmarks, including ASHRAE Standard 90.1. Project Energy Cost Range for the web is a simple interactive tool to help you quickly understand a project’s overall potential energy use range. The Energy Cost Range (ECR) was first introduced in FormIt for iOS, and was subsequently made available in Revit , and Vasari. A previous blog posting discusses some... Read more →

FREE Webinar: Cloud-based Energy Simulation using EnergyPlus

Join us for a FREE webinar next month and learn about EnergyPlus Cloud, its features, and application workflow. Specific topics to be covered by the webinar include: Why EnergyPlus, and why now? Advantages of cloud-based simulation EnergyPlus Cloud workflow demonstration EnergyPlus Cloud API EnergyPlus Cloud Autodesk Labs user experiences and examples How does EnergyPlus Cloud integrate with other Autodesk tools? Tuesday, February 10th 9:00 – 10:00 AM PST Register here. Autodesk Principal Engineer and Product Owner Krishnan Gowri will lead the webinar and show you how to utilize EnergyPlus Cloud in addition to facilitating an open forum discussion for feedback... Read more →

Why is Autodesk Investing in EnergyPlus?

Find out why Autodesk has invested so heavily in Energy Plus. Read more →