IBPSA1993

Currently, building energy analysis programs employ models of fluorescent lighting systems which are much oversimplified and potentially inaccurate. One important factor neglected by all whole-building programs is the variation of lamp power and light output with lamp wall temperature. This means that the lighting component of zone load and artificial lighting levels are both calculated incorrectly. Additionally, the latter implies that the predicted energy saving for systems that automatically reduce artificial lighting when daylight is available is also incorrect.

Over the past decade developments in the building simulation field have given rise to the prospect of a new generation of design tool which has the potential to allow rigorous hypothesis testing at the design stage. While powerful at their core, simulation based design tools suffer from several user interface limitations. This paper describes an attempt to solve some of these problems by developing an Intelligent Front End authoring environment for building performance appraisal in general.

The limited development potential of current building simulation programs has spurred the design of a new generation of tools: object oriented simulation environments, where the latest in software technology and numerical methods is employed to provide users with a framework for more flexible, and thereby more appropriate, simulation models. Some of these tools provide the sophisticated user with a rich graphical environment for interactive model design. We call these model-lab simulation environments.

The efficacy of dynamic thermal simulation tools in practice is dependent not only on the facilities offered by the tools and the rigour of the underlying calculations but also on the skills of the user vis-a-vis abstracting the essence of the problem into a model, choosing appropriate boundary conditions, setting up simulations and interpreting their results.

The application, design, and sizing of commercial water heating systems has been hampered by the lack of an accessible tool for evaluating long-term performance and operating energy costs. This lack of resources has limited the application of high-efficiency alternative water heating systems such as heat pump water heaters, refrigeration heat reclaim units or desuperheaters, and waste heat recovery systems. The Electric PowerResearch Institute and the Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation have developed the HOTCALC microcomputer software to fill that need.

Several older buildings have been found to violate the building code requirements with respect to health and safety of occupants. In order to ensure compliance, building managers and inspectors require a thorough knowledge of code documents and expertise to assess the seriousness of violations. The present study aims at developing a computer tool integrating hyperlext and knowledge-based system techniques to facilitate code compliance checking and provide access to case studies of problem scenarios.

The methodology for validation of Building Energy Simulation Programs developed within the CEC concerted action PASSYS by the Model Validation and Development subgroup was presented at the IBPSA conference "Building Simulation '91" (Jensen and van de Perre 1991, Palomo et al 1991). Part of this validation methodology is a methodology for Empirical Whole Model Validation. Several case studies using this methodology have now been carried out. One of these case studies implies the investigation of a data set obtained in a PASSYS test cell with the PASSYS Reference Wall.

In view of the emerging radiant cooling technologies in the European market, a dynamic building thermal analysis program ACCURACY is enhanced to be able to do cooling-load calculations and annual energy analysis for rooms with cooled ceiling climate system. The program was validated against the experimental investigation of the dynamic response of a test room to step heating and step cooling. Specifically, the validated program is used to perform a simulation of the combination of evaporative cooling with cooled ceiling technique for office building cooling purpose.

BC Hydro and their consultant have devised a method for aggregating hourly results from DOE2 computer energy models to simulate sector-wide impacts of commercial deman-side management (DSM) programs. This process assists in the analysis of DSM program impacts on projected utility system load profiles. With this process, BC Hydro can estimate how DSM programs may influence load shape changes and specify programs which best benefit British Columbia.

There is increasing concern and awareness of the contribution of the built environment to global environmental problems such as the depletion of the ozone layer, large-scale soil erosion and deposition, the generation of greenhouse gases, atmospheric hygiene and surface water quality. Me dispersion of refrigerant gases from air conditioning plant, urban stormwater run-off, the energy requirements of space heating and lighting, and waste management and disposal are all significant issues in the impact of buildings on the global environment.