Modelon releases support for the Modelica Buildings Library in Modelon Impact, the market leading platform for system simulations. This integration allows Modelon to address the growing market for buildings performance, enabling scalable modeling and simulation within a modern, collaborative environment.
The Modelica Buildings Library, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), is a robust open-source resource for modeling building energy and control systems. It provides validated models for HVAC, electrical systems, geothermal storage, controls, and thermal envelopes. It is widely used in commercial engineering projects and academic research projects to design low-energy buildings, evaluate control strategies, model district energy systems and data centers, and to explore innovative architectural and system configurations. The library supports system-level analysis, long-term performance simulations, and advanced co-simulation with tools like EnergyPlus.
The Buildings Library’s integration in Modelon Impact opens new ways to access and apply its capabilities. Combining this widely respected open-source library with Modelon's cloud-native platform, building companies and engineers have an accessible, intuitive way to explore energy systems.
The Buildings Library can be used to:
- Evaluate energy efficiency strategies for HVAC systems
- Simulate actual control algorithms under realistic conditions
- Assess how building envelope improvements affect system loads
- Test the response of systems to changing weather and occupancy profiles
- Explore interactions between electrical, mechanical, and thermal domains
These capabilities help engineers and designers answer critical questions about energy use, comfort, cost, and performance well before a building is constructed or retrofitted.
Modelon Impact enables users to build and simulate models in a browser-based workspace that removes the friction of software installation, version mismatches, and collaboration barriers. Projects are version-controlled by default and easily shareable, making the platform particularly helpful for distributed teams or organizations working with external partners.
By supporting this open-source library, Modelon gains access to an important market segment. This also makes it possible for all Modelon Impact users, regardless of their familiarity with the library itself, to leverage the Buildings Library through expert support. Modelon offers self-guided tutorials through its Help Center for learning how to use the Buildings Library. In addition, Modelon Impact users will get dedicated support in Modelon Impact, including one-on-one guidance from our experts.
“As a Modelica platform, we’re always looking for ways to leverage high quality third-party libraries within Modelon Impact. By offering the Buildings Library as part of Modelon Impact, we aim to help more engineers access, learn, and apply its tools to accelerate innovation and collaboration. Users benefit from automatic updates to the latest version of the library, with ongoing testing and maintenance to ensure compatibility and performance.” said Chief Product Officer, Pieter Dermont.
Many companies are today relying on legacy models or siloed buildings design tools. By being able to use the Modelica Buildings Library within Modelon Impact they get the added benefit of using commercial library models, and it is also possible for users to create hybrid workflows through co-simulation with EnergyPlus. For example, various building systems, such as data center systems or HVAC systems, can be simulated alongside district energy networks, renewable integration scenarios, or advanced control logic — all within a unified modeling environment.
