CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

30 September 2009

Events News

Bentley and U.S. Department of Energy See Robust Energy Simulation as Key to Creation of High Performance Buildings

During a recent seminar at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., Bentley Systems, Incorporated and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) made it clear that robust energy simulation tools are the key to creating high performance buildings that:

• More closely match their predicted performance;
• Reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions;
• Increase occupant comfort, health, and safety;
• Help provide building owners with real returns, including lower operating costs.

Bentley’s Hevacomp Simulator V8i software takes full advantage of the U.S. DOE’s industry-standard EnergyPlus simulation engine to provide highly accurate building energy analysis and design.

At the seminar, Drury Crawley, Ph.D., technology development manager, U.S. DOE, said that in the DOE’s energy building research, simulation has proven critical for designing and operating buildings to support decision making. At the same time it:

• Helps design teams and owners focus energy-use reduction efforts;
• Permits assessment of predicted performance with established benchmarks or goals;
• Enables teams to evaluate alternatives.

Dr. Crawley added that the integration of the U.S. DOE’s EnergyPlus – a comprehensive building, envelope, HVAC, lighting, water, site, and renewables simulation program – with commercial software is critical to bringing energy simulation into mainstream workflows.

Speaking on behalf of Bentley at the seminar, Noah Eckhouse, Bentley vice president, Building Performance Group, said that too often “green” buildings today don’t perform as intended. This, he explained, results in a greater environmental impact than the design promised, actual energy performance that doesn’t match predicted performance, operating costs that exceed estimates, and/or spaces that are uncomfortable or even unhealthy for the occupants. “There’s a growing concern that many ‘green’ buildings don’t provide anywhere near the savings expected by their designers, with some actually using more energy than the code baseline,” said Eckhouse.

He emphasized that analysis tools based on broad-brushed assumptions can’t provide the required detailed analysis of all relevant factors, including materials, sunlight, climate, systems type, space use, air flow, water usage, CO2 emissions, occupancy, orientation, and many others, that leads to a high performance building. This type of analysis, he explained, can only be accomplished with detailed dynamic simulation toolssuch asBentley’s Hevacomp Simulator.

Said Eckhouse, “Designers have to be able to collaborate on all of the data sets they are creating, from conceptual design and system specifications through the detailed design and engineering process, and even into commissioning. This results in buildings that best realize the intentions of the designs. With the help of Bentley’s Hevacomp Simulator, project teams can efficiently and confidently reuse data throughout all of these processes.”

Hevacomp Simulator V8i and Hevacomp Mechanical Designer V8i, along with Bentley Tas Simulator V8i, are part of Bentley’s Energy Performance Series. This software for building energy design, analysis, and simulation makes it possible for engineers, architects, and energy assessors to better understand and accurately predict the energy consumption, CO2 emissions, operating costs, and occupant comfort of projects ranging from small and simple to very large and highly complex. Bentley’s Energy Performance Series has been proven in the demanding U.K. market for the design and construction of high performance “green” buildings and now supports U.S. and Canadian standards.

For additional information about Bentley’s Energy Performance Series, visit www.bentley.com/green.

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