AIVC Contributed Reports

Contrasting the capabilities of building energy performance simulation programs

590 kB

D. B. Crawley, J. W. Hand, M. Kummert, B. T. Griffith
AIVC Contributed Report 4, 2006, 68 pp, Code CR04

For the past 50 years, a wide variety of building energy simulation programs have been developed, enhanced, and are in use throughout the building energy community. This report provides an up-to-date comparison of the features and capabilities of twenty major building energy simulation programs: BLAST, BSim, DeST, DOE-2.1E, ECOTECT, Ener-Win, Energy Express, Energy-10, EnergyPlus, eQUEST, ESP-r, IDA ICE, IES <VE>, HAP, HEED, PowerDomus, SUNREL, Tas, TRACE and TRNSYS. This comparison is based on information provided by the program developers in the following categories: general modeling features; zone loads; building envelope, daylighting and solar; infiltration, ventilation and multizone airflow; renewable energy systems; electrical systems and equipment; HVAC systems; HVAC equipment; environmental emissions; economic evaluation; climate data availability; results reporting; validation; and user interfaces, links to other programs, and availability.